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Ihe  FshimoTiins 


Lucy '  fitcb '  perkins 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


Eduoatloa 


GIFT  OF 


Mrs,  Earle  Brown 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/eskimotwinsOOperkrich 


^"^^ 


•^j7".--T<...->^ 


THE  ESKIMO  TWINS 

By  Lucy  Fitch  Perkins 

ILLUSTRATED   BY  THE  AUTHOR 


BOSTON     NEW  YORK     CHICAGO 
HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,   I914,   BY  LUCY  FITCH  PSRKINS 
ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Education 


GIFT 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S   .    A 


'.r 


961 


l 


CONTENTS 

Introduction  —  The  Eskimo  Twins  ....      3 
I.  The  Twins  go  Coasting        ....  7 

II.    KOOLEE   DIVIDES   THE    MeAT  .  .  •  •      33 

III.  The  Twins  go  Fishing 43 

IV.  The  Snow  House 6i 

V.  The  Feast 75 

VI.  The  Reindeer  Hunt 103 

VII.  What  happened  when  Menie  and  Koko  went 

Hunting  by  Themselves       .        .        .        .117 

VIII.  The  Woman-Boats i43 

IX.  The  Voyage       .        .        .        .        .        •        -157 
X.  The  Summer  Day 181 


399 


THE  ESKIMO   TWINS 

This  is  the  true  story  of  Menie  and  Monnie  and 
their  two  little  dogs,  Nip  and  Tup. 

Menie  and  Monnie  are  twins,  and  they  live  far 
away  in  the  North,  near  the  very  edge  of  the  Great 
White  World,  where  the  snow  never  melts. 

They  are  five  years  old. 

Menie  is  the  boy,  and  Monnie  is  the  girl.  But 
you  cannot  tell  which  is  Menie  and  which  is  Mon- 
nie, —  not  even  if  you  look  ever  so  hard  at  their 
pictures ! 

That  is  because  they  look  just  alike  and  dress  just 
alike. 

Even  their  own  mother  can't  always  tell.  And  if 
she  can't,  who  can  ? 

Sometimes  the  twins  almost  get  mixed  up  about  it 
themselves.  And  then  it  is  very  hard  to  know  which 
is  Nip  and  which  is  Tup,  because  the  little  dogs  are 
twins  too. 

Nobody  was  surprised  that  the  little  dogs  were 
twins,  because  dogs  often  are. 

3 


But  everybody  in  the  whole  Northland  where 
Menie  and  Monnie  live  was  simply  astonished  to 
see  twin  babies  ! 

They  had  never  known  of  any  before  in  their 
whole  lives. 

Old  Akla,  the  Angakok,  or  Medicine  Man  of  the 
village^  shook  his  head  when  he  heard  about  them. 
He  said,  *' Such  a  thing  never  happened  before. 
Seals  and  human  beings  never  have  twins  I  There  '5 
m^gic  in  this.'' 

The  name  of  the  twins'  father  was  Kesshoo.  If 
you  say  it  fast  it  sounds  just  like  a  sneeze. 

Their  mother's  name  was  Koolee.  Kesshoo  and 
KooleCj  and  Menie  and  Monnie,  and  Nip  and  Tup, 
all  live  together  in  the  cold  Arctic  winter  in  a  little 
stone  hut,  called  an  ^' igloo." 

In  the  summer  they  live  in  a  tent,  which  they  call 
a  ^'tupik."  The  winters  are  very  long  and  cold,  and 
what  do  you  think  I  They  have  one  night  there  that 
is  four  whole  months  long  ! 

For  four  long  months,  while  we  are  having 
Thanksgiving,  and  Christmas,  and  even  Lincoln's 
Birthday,  the  twins  never  once  see  the  sun  ! 

But  at  last  one  day  in  early  spring  the  sun  comes 
up  again  out  of  the  sea,  looks  at  the  world  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  goes  out  of  sight  again.  Each  day  he 

4 


stays  for  a  longer  time  until  after  a  while  he  does  nH 
go  out  of  sight  at  all  I 

Then  there  are  four  long  months  of  daylight  when 
there  is  never  any  bedtime.  Menie  and  Monniejust 
go  to  sleep  whenever  they  feel  sleepy. 

The  Eskimos  love  children,  so  every  one  thought 
Kesshoo  and  Koolee  were  very  lucky  to  have  two 
such  nice  fat  ones,  even  if  one  of  them  was  a  girl. 

They  would  have  thought  it  luckier  still  if  Monnie 
had  been  a  hoy,  too,  because  boys  grow  up  to  hunt  and 
fish  and  help  get  food  for  the  family. 

But  Kesshoo  was  the  best  hunter  and  the  best  kyak 
man  in  the  whole  village.  So  he  said  to  Koolee^  **/ 
suppose  there  must  be  girls  in  the  world.  It  is  no 
worse  for  us  than  for  others.''^ 

So  because  Kesshoo  was  a  brave  fisherman  and 
strong  hunter,  and  because  Koolee  was  clever  in 
making  clothing  and  shoes  out  of  the  skins  of  the 
animals  which  he  brought  home,  the  twins  had  the 
very  best  time  that  little  Eskimo  children  can  have. 

And  that  is  quite  a  good  time,  as  you  will  see  if 
you  read  all  about  it  in  this  book. 


I 

THE  TWINS  GO  COASTING 


I 

THE  TWINS  GO  COASTING 

I 

One  spring  morning,  very  early,  while  the 
moon  still  shone  and  every  one  else  in  the 
village  was  asleep,  Menie  and  Monnie  crept 
out  of  the  dark  entrance  of  their  little  stone 
house  by  the  sea. 

The  entrance  to  their  little  stone  house 
was  long  and  low  like  a  tunnel.  The  Twins 
were  short  and  fat.  But  even  if  they  were 
short  they  could  not  stand  up  straight  in 
the  tunnel. 

So  they  crawled  out  on  all  fours.  Nip 
and  Tup  came  with  them.  Nip  and  Tup 
were  on  all  fours,  too,  but  they  had  run  that 
way  all  their  lives,  so  they  could  go  much 
faster  than  the  twins.  They  got  out  first. 

Then  they  ran  round  in  circles  in  the 
snow  and  barked  at  the  moon.  When  Menie 

9 


and  Monnie  came  out  of  the  hole,  Tup 
jumped  up  to  Hck  Monnie's  face.  He  bumped 
her  so  hard  that  she  fell  right  into  the  snow- 
bank by  the  entrance. 

Monnie  did  n't  mind  a  bit.  She  just  put 
her  two  fat  arms  around  Tup,  and  they  rolled 
over  together  in  the  snow. 

Monnie  had  on  her  fur  suit,  with  fur. hood 
and  mittens,  and  it  was  hard  to  tell  which 
was  Monnie  and  which  was  Tup  as  they 
tumbled  in  the  snow  together. 

Pretty  soon  Monnie  picked  herself  up  and 
shook  off  the  snow.  Then  Tup  shook  him- 
self, too.  Menie  was  rolling  over  and  over 
down  the  slope  in  front  of  the  little  stone 
house.  His  head  was  between  his  knees  and 
his  hands  held  his  ankles,  so  he  rolled  just 
like  a  ball. 

Nip  was  running  round  and  round  him 
and  barking  with  all  his  might.  They  made 
strange  shadows  on  the  snow  in  the  moon- 
light. 

Monnie  called  to  Menie.  Menie  straight- 
ened   himself  out   at   the    bottom    of  the 

lO 


slope,  picked  himself  up  and  ran  back  to 
her. 

**What  shall  we  play?"  said  Monnie. 

''  Let 's  get  Koko,  and  go  to  the  Big  Rock 
and  slide  downhill,"  said  Menie. 

**  All  right,"  said  Monnie.  ''You  run  and 
get  your  sled." 

Menie  had  a  little  sled  which  his  father 
had  made  for  him  out  of  driftwood.  No 
other  boy  in  the  village  had  one.  Menie's 
father  had  searched  the  beach  for  many 
miles  to  find  driftwood  to  make  this  sled. 

The  Eskimos  have  no  wood  but  drift- 
wood, and  it  is  so  precious  that  it  is  hardly 
ever  used  for  anything  but  big  dog  sledges 
or  spears,  or  other  things  which  the  men 
must  have. 

Most  of  the  boys  had  sleds  cut  from 
blocks  of  ice.  Menie's  sled  was  behind  the 
igloo.  He  ran  to  get  it,  and  then  the  twins 
and  the  pups  —  all  four — started  for  Koko's 
house. 

Koko's  house  was  clear  at  the  other  end 
of  the  village.   But  that  was  not  far  away, 

II 


for  there  were  only  five  igloos  in  the  whole 
town. 

First  there  was  the  igloo  where  the  twins 
lived.  Next  was  the  home  of  Akla,  the  An- 
gakok,  and  his  two  wives.  Then  there  were 
two  igloos  where  several  families  lived  to- 
gether. Last  of  all  was  the  one  where  Koko 
and  his  father  and  mother  and  baby  brother 
lived. 

Koko  was  six.  He  was  the  twins'  best 
friend. 


12 


II 

The  air  was  very  still.  There  was  not  a 
sound  anywhere  except  the  barking  of  the 
pups,  the  voices  of  Menie  and  Monnie,  and 
the  creaking  sound  of  the  snow  under  their 
feet  as  they  ran. 

The  round  moon  was  sailing  through  the 
deep  blue  sky  and  shining  so  bright  it 
seemed  almost  as  light  as  day. 

There  was  one  window  in  each  igloo  right 
over  the  tunnel  -  entrance,  and  these  win- 
dows shone  with  a  dull  yellow  light. 

In  front  of  the  village  lay  the  sea.  It  was 
covered  with  ice  far  out  from  shore.  Beyond 
the  ice  was  the  dark  water  out  of  which  the 
sun  would  rise  by  and  by. 

There  was  nothing  else  to  be  seen  in  all 
the  twins'  world.  There  were  no  trees,  no 
bushes  even ;  —  nothing  but  the  white  earth, 
the  shadows  of  the  rocks  and  the  snow- 
covered  igloos,  the  bright  windows,  and  the 
moon  shining  over  all. 


13 


Ill 

Menie  and  Monnie  soon  reached  Koko's 
igloo.  Menie  and  Nip  got  there  first.  Mon- 
nie came  puffing  along  with  Tup  just  a 
moment  after. 

Then  the  twins  dropped  on  their  hands 
and  knees  in  fi-ont  of  Koko's  hut,  and  stuck 
their  heads  into  the  tunnel.  Nip  and  Tup 
stuck  their  heads  in,  too. 

They  all  four  listened.  There  was  not  a 
sound  to  be  heard  except  loud  snores  !  The 
snores  came  rattling  through  the  tunnel  with 
such  a  frightful  noise  that  the  twins  were 
almost  scared. 

"They  sleep  out  loud,  don't  they?"  whis- 
pered Monnie. 

'*  Let 's  wake  them  up,"  Menie  whispered 
back. 

Then  the  twins  began  to  bark.  '*Ki-yi, 
ki-yi,  ki-yi,  ki-yi,"  just  like  little  dogs! 

Nip  and  Tup  began  to  yelp,  too.  The 
snores  and  the  yelps  met  in  the  middle  of 
the  tunnel  and  the  two  together  made  such 

H 


r^~i     \ 


a  dreadful  sound  that  Koko  woke  up  at 
once. 

When  he  heard  four  barks  he  knew  right 
away  that  it  must  be  the  twins  and  the  httle 
dogs. 

So  he  stuck  his  head  into  the  other  end 
of  the  tunnel  and  called,  "Keep  still.  You'll 
wake  the  baby !    Til  be  there  in  a  minute." 

Very  soon  Koko  popped  out  of  the  black 
hole.  He  was  dressed  in  a  fur  suit  and 
mittens  just  like  the  twins. 


IV 

The  three  children  went  along  together 
toward  the  Big  Rock.  Monnie  rode  on  the 
sled,  and  Menie  and  Koko  pulled  it.  The 
Big  Rock  was  very  straight  up  and  down 
on  one  side,  and  long  and  slanting  on  the 
other.  The  twins  were  going  to  coast  down 
the  slanting  side. 

They  climbed  to  the  top,  and  Menie  had 
the  first  ride.  He  coasted  down  on  his 
stomach  with  his  little  reindeer-skin  kamiks 
(shoes)  waving  in  the  air. 

Next  Koko  had  a  turn.  What  do  you  think 
he  did?  He  stood  straight  up  on  the  sled  with 
the  leather  cord  in  his  hand,  and  slid  down 
that  way !  But  then,  you  see,  he  was  six. 

When  Monnie's  turn  came  she  wanted  to 
go  down  that  way,  too.  But  Menie  said, 
''No.  You  'd  fall  off  and  bump  your  nose  ! 
You  have  hardly  any  nose  as  it  is,  and 
you  *d  better  save  it !  " 

"  I  have  as  much  nose  as  you  have,  any- 
way," said  Monnie. 

17 


''Mine  is  bigger!  I  'm  a  boy!"  said 
Menie. 

Koko  measured  their  noses  with  his  finger. 

''They  are  just  exactly  ahke,"  he  said. 

Monnie  turned  hers  up  at  Menie  and  said, 
"What  did  I  tell  you?" 

Menie  never  said  another  word  about 
noses.  He  just  changed  the  subject.  He 
said,  "Let's  all  sHde  down  at  once." 

Koko  and  Menie  sat  down  on  the  sled. 
Monnie  sat  on  Menie.  Then  they  gave  a 
few  hitches  to  the  sled  and  off  they  went. 

Whiz  !  How  they  flew  ! 

The  pups  came  running  after  them.  In 
some  places  where, it  was  very  slippery  the 


c      V 


■^"•-      ^>N. 


x». 


i8 


Kf^>^j 


^ 


pups  coasted,  too !  But  they  did  not  mean 
to.  They  did  not  Hke  it.  The  sled  was  al- 
most at  the  end  of  the  slide  when  it  struck 
a  piece  of  ice.  It  flew  around  sideways  and 
spilled  all  the  children  in  the  snow. 

Just  then  Nip  and  Tup  came  sliding  along 
behind  them.  They  could  n't  stop,  so  there 
they  all  were  in  a  heap  together,  with  the 
dogs  on  top ! 

Menie  rolled  over  and  sat  up  in  the  snow. 
He  was  holding  on  to  the  end  of  his  nose. 
''  lyi,  iyi !  "  he  howled,  **  I  bumped  my  nose 
on  a  piece  of  ice  I  "  * 

Monnie  sat  up  in  the  snow,  too.  She 
pointed  her  fur  mitten  at  Menie's  nose  and 
laughed.  ''Don't  you  know  you  haven't 
much  nose?"  she  said.  "You  ought  to  be 
more  careful  of  it!  " 

Koko  kicked  his  feet  in  the  air  and  laughed 
at  Menie,  and  the  little  dogs  barked.  Menie 
thought  he  'd  better  laugh,  too.  He  had  just 
let  go  of  his  nose  to  begin  when  all  of  a 
sudden  the  little  dogs  stopped  barking  and 
stood  very  still  I 

20 


r'^ 


Their  hair  stood  up  on  their  necks  and 
they  began  to  growl ! 

*'Hark,  the  dogs  see  something,"  said 
Menie. 

Monnie  and  Koko  stopped  laughing  and 
listened.  They  could  not  hear  anything. 
They  could  not  see  anything.  Still  Nip 
and  Tup  growled.  The  twins  and  Koko 
were  children  of  brave  hunters,  so,  although 


21 


they  were  scared,  they  crept  very  quietly 
to  the  side  of  the  Big  Rock  and  peeped 
over. 

Just  that  minute  there  was  a  dreadful 
growl !  ''  Woof! "  It  was  very  loud,  and  very 
near,  and  down  on  the  beach  a  shadow  was 
moving !  It  was  the  shadow  of  a  great  white 
BEAR! 

He  was  looking  for  fish  and  was  cross 
.  because  everything  was  frozen,  and  he  could 
not  find  any  on  the  beach. 

The  moment  they  saw  him,  the  twins  and 
Koko  turned  and  ran  for  home  as  fast  as 
ever  their  short  legs  could  go !  They  did 
not  even  stop  to  get  the  precious  sled.  They 
just  ran  and  ran. 

Nip  and  Tup  ran,  too,  with  their  ears 
back  and  their  little  tails  stuck  straight  out 
behind  them ! 

If  they  had  looked  back,  they  would 
have  seen  the  bear  stand  up  on  his  hind 
legs  and  look  after  them,  then  get  down  on 
all  fours  and  start  toward  the  Big  Rock 
on  a  run. 

22 


fel£3^3^^ 


But  neither  the  children  nor  the  Httle 
dogs  looked  back !  They  just  ran  with  all 
their  might  until  they  reached  the  twins* 
igloo.  Then  they  all  dived  into  the  tunnel 
like  frightened  rabbits. 

V 

When  they  came  up  in  the  one  little  room 
of  the  igloo  at  the  other  end  of  the  tunnel, 
Kesshoo  and  Koolee  were  just  crawling  out 
of  the  warm  fur  covers  of  their  bed.  Menie 
and  Monnie  and  Koko  and  the  little  dogs 
all  began  to  talk  at  once. 

The  moment  the  twins'  father  and  mother 
heard  the  word  beay  they  jumped  off  the 

23 


sleeping-bench  and  began  to  put  on  their 
clothes. 

They  both  wore  fur  trousers  and  long 
kamiks,  with  coats  of  fur,  so  they  looked 
almost  as  much  alike  in  their  clothes  as  the 
twins  did  in  theirs. 

The  mother  always  wore  her  hair  in  a 
topknot  on  top  of  her  head,  tied  with  a 
leather  thong.  But  now  she  wanted  to  make 

24 


the  bear  think  she  was  a  man,  too,  so  she 
pulled  it  down  and  let  it  hang  about  her 
face,  just  as  her  husband  did. 

In  two  minutes  they  were  ready.  Then 
the  father  reached  for  his  lance,  the  mother 
took  her  knife,  and  they  all  crawled  out  of 
the  tunnel. 

The  father  went  first,  then  the  mother, 
then  the  three  children  and  the  pups.  At 
the  opening  of  the  tunnel  the  father  stopped, 
and  looked  all  around  to  see  if  the  bear 
were  near. 

The  dogs  in  the  village  knew  by  this  time 
that  some  strange  animal  was  about,  and 
the  moment  Kesshoo  came  out  into  the 
moonlight  and  started  for  the  Big  Rock, 
all  the  dogs  ran,  too,  howling  like  a  pack 
of  wolves. 

Kesshoo  shouted  back  to  his  wife,  *'  There 
really  is  a  bear  !  I  see  him  by  the  Big  Rock ; 
call  the  others." 

So  she  sent  Monnie  into  the  igloo  of 
the  Angakok,  and  Menie  and  Koko  into 
the  next  huts.    She  herself  screamed,  ''A 

25 


bear!  A  bear!"  into  the  tunnel  of  Koko's 
hut. 

The  people  in  the  houses  had  heard  the 
dogs  bark  and  were  already  awake.  Soon 
they  came  pouring  out  of  their  tunnels 
armed  with  knives  and  lances.  The  women 
had  all  let  down  their  hair,  just  as  the 
twins'  mother  did.  Each  one  carried  her 
knife. 

They  all  ran  toward  the  Big  Rock,  too. 
Far  ahead  they  could  see  the  bear,  and  the 
dogs  bounding  along,  and  Kesshoo  running 
with  his  lance  in  his  hand. 

Then  they  saw  the  dogs  spring  upon  the 
bear.  The  bear  stood  up  oh  his  hind  legs 
and  tried  to  catch  the  dogs  and  crush  them 
in  his  arms.  But  the  dogs  were  too  nimble. 
The  bear  could  not  catch  them. 

When  Kesshoo  came  near,  the  bear  gave 
a  great  roar,  and  started  for  him.  The  brave 
Kesshoo  stood  still  with  his  lance  in  his 
hand,  until  the  bear  got  quite  near,  Then 
he  ran  at  the  bear  and  plunged  the  lance 
into  his  side.  The  lance  pierced  the  bear's 

26 


heart.   He  groaned,  fell  to  the  ground,  rolled 
over,  and  was  still. 

Then  how  everybody  ran !  Koko's  mo- 
ther had  her  baby  in  her  hood,  where 
Eskimo  mothers  always  carry  their  babies. 
She  could  not  run  so  fast  as  the  others.  The 
Angakok  was  fat,  so  he  could  not  keep  up,  — 
but  he  waddled  along  as  fast  as  he  could. 

27 


**  Hurry,  hurry,"  he  called  to  his  wives. 
**  Bespeak  one  of  his  hind  legs  for  me." 

Menie  and  Monnie  and  Koko  had  such 
short  legs  they  could  not  go  very  fast 
either,  so  they  ran  along  with  the  Anga- 
kok,  and  Koko's  mother,  and  Nip  and 
Tup. 

When  they  reached  the  bear  they  found 
all  the  other  people  crowded  around  it. 
Each  one  stuck  his  fingers  in  the  bear's 
blood  and  then  sucked  his  fingers.  This  was 
because  they  wanted  all  bears  to  know  how 
they  longed  to  kill  them.  As  each  one 
tasted  the  blood  he  called .  out  the  part  of 
the  bear  he  would  like  to  have. 

The  wives  of  the  Angakok  cried,  ''Give 
a  hind  leg  to  the  Angakok." 

*'The  kidneys  for  Koko,"  cried  Koko's 
mother  when  she  stuck  in  her  finger.  "  That 
will  make  him  a  great  bear-hunter  when  he 
is  big." 

"  And  I  will  have  the  skin  for  the  twins' 
bed,"  said  their  mother. 

Kesshoo  promised  each  one  the  part  he 
28 


asked  for.  An  Eskimo  never  keeps  the  game 
he  kills  for  himself  alone.  Every  one  in  the 
village  has  a  share. 

The  bear  was  very  large.  He  was  so 
large  that  though  all  the  women  pulled  to- 
gether they  could  not  drag  the  body  back 
to  the  village.  The  men  laughed  at  them, 
but  they  did  not  help  them. 

So  Koolee  ran  back  for  their  sledge  and 
harnesses  for  the  dogs.  Koko  and  Menie 
helped  her  catch  the  dogs  and  hitch  them 
to  the  sledge. 

It  took  some  time  to  catch  them  for  the 
dogs  did  not  want  to  work.  They  all  ran 
away,  and  Tooky,  the  leader  of  the  team, 
pretended  to  be  sick !  Tooky  was  the  mother 
of  Nip  and  Tup,  and  she  was  a  very  clever 
dog.  While  Koolee  and  Koko  and  Menie 
were  getting  the  sledge  and  dog-team  ready, 
the  rest  of  the  women  set  to  work  with  their 
queer  crooked  knives  to  take  off  the  beards 
skin.  The  moon  set,  and  the  sky  was  red 
with  the  colors  of  the  dawn  before  this  was 
done. 

2g 


At  last  the  meat  was  cut  in  pieces  and 
Kesshoo  and  Koko's  father  held  the  dogs 
while  the  women  heaped  it  on  the  sledge. 
The  dogs  wanted  the  meat.  They  jumped 
and  howled  and  tried  to  get  away. 

When  everything  was  ready,  Koolee 
cracked  the  whip  at  the  dogs.  Tooky  ran 
ahead  to  her  place  as  leader,  the  other  dogs 
began  to  pull,  and  the  whole  procession 
started  back  to  the  village,  leaving  a  great 
red  stain  on  the  clean  white  snow  where 
the  bear  had  been  killed. 

Last  of  all  came  the  twins  and  Koko. 
They  had  loaded  the  bear's  skin  on  Menie's 
sled. 

"It 's  a  woman's  work  to  pull  the  meat 
home.  We  men  just  do  the  hunting  and 
fishing,"  Menie  said  to  Koko.  They  had 
heard  the  men  say  that. 

"Yes,  we  found  the  bear,"  Koko  an- 
swered.  *'  Monnie  can  pull  the  skin  home." 

And  though  Monnie  had  found  the  bear 
just  as  much  as  they  had,  she  did  n't  say  a 
word.  She  just  pulled  away  on  the  sled,  and 

30 


they  all  reached  the  igloo  together  just  as 
the  round  red  sun  came  up  out  of  the  sea, 
and  threw  long  blue  shadows  far  across  the 
fields  of  snow. 


KOOLEE  DIVIDES  THE  MEAT 


^'^'T^ 

■^■J}!-"^'^ 


a«^      >.,:>^- 


•;,^%?5*)^-- 


II 

KOOLEE  DIVIDES  THE  MEAT 


The  first  thing  that  was  done  after  they 
got  the  sledge  back  to  the  village  was  to 
feed  the  dogs.  The  dogs  were  very  hun- 
gry ;  they  had  smelled  the  fresh  meat  for 
a  long  time  without  so  much  as  a  bite  of 
it,  and  they  had  had  nothing  to  eat  for 
two  whole  days.  They  jumped  about  and 
howled  again  and  got  their  harnesses  dread- 
fully tangled. 

Kesshoo  unharnessed  them  and  gave  them 
some  bones,  and  while  they  were  crunch- 
ing them  and  quarreling  among  themselves, 
Koolee  crawled  into  the  igloo  and  brought 
out  a  bowl.  The  bowl,  was  made  of  a  hol- 
lowed-out  stone,  and  it  had  water  in  it. 

''This  is  for  a  charm,"  said  Koolee.  ''  If 
you  each  take  a  sip  of  water  from  this 

35 


bowl  my  son  will  always  have  good  luck 
in  spying  bears  !  " 

She  passed  the  bowl  around,  and  each  per- 
son took  a  sip  of  the  water.  When  Menie's 
turn  came  he  took  a  big,  big  mouthful,  be- 
cause he  wanted  to  be  very  brave,  indeed, 
and  find  a  bear  every  week.  But  he  was  in 
too  much  of  a  hurry.  The  water  went  down 
his  ** Sunday-throat"  and  choked  him!  He 
coughed  and  strangled  and  his  face  grew 
red.    Koolee  thumped  him  on  the  back. 

''That's  a  poor  beginning  for  a  great 
bear-hunter,"  she  said. 

Everybody  laughed  at  Menie.  Menie 
hated  to  be  laughed  at.  He  went  away 
and  found  Nip  and  Tup.  They  would  n't 
laugh  at  him,  he  knew.  He  thought  he 
liked  dogs  better  than  people  anyway. 

Nip  and  Tup  were  trying  to  get  their 
noses  into  the  circle  with  the  other  dogs, 
but  the  big  dogs  snapped  at  them  and 
drove  them  away,  so  Menie  got  some 
scraps  and  fed  them. 

Meanwhile  Koolee  stood  by  the  sledge 
36 


and  divided  the  meat  among  her  neigh- 
bors. First  she  gave  one  of  the  hind  legs 
to  the  wives  of  the  Angakok,  because  he 
always  had  to  have  the  best  of  everything. 
She  gave  the  kidneys  to  Koko's  mother. 
To  each  one  she  gave  just  the  part  she  had 
asked  for.  When  each  woman  had  been 
given  her  share,  Kesshoo  took  what  was 
left  and  put  it  on  the  storehouse 

The  storehouse  was  n't  really  a  house  at 
all.  It  was  just  a  great  stone  platform 
standing  up  on  legs,  like  a  giant's  table. 
The  meat  was  placed  on  the  top  of  it,  so 
the  dogs  could  not  reach  it,  no  matter  how 
high  they  jumped. 

37      . 


II 

When  the  rest  of  the  meat  was  taken 
care  of,  Koolee  took  the  bear's  head  and 
carried  it  into  the  igloo. 

All  the  people  followed  her.  Then  Koolee 
did  a  queer  thing.  She  placed  the  head  on 
a  bench,  with  the  nose  pointing  toward  the 
Big  Rock,  because  the  bear  had  come  from 
that  direction.  Then  she  stopped  up  the 
nostrils  with  moss  and  grease.  She  greased 
the  bear's  mouth,  too. 

**  Bears  like  grease,"  she  said.  ''And  if 
I  stop  up  his  nose  like  that  bears  will  never 
be  able  to  smell  anything.  Then  the  hunt- 
ers can  get  near  and  kill  them  before  they 
know  it."  You  see  Koolee  was  a  great  be- 
liever in  signs  and  in  magic.  All  the  other 
people  were  too. 

She  called  to  the  twins,  "  Come  here, 
Menie  and  Monnie." 

The  twins  had  come  in  with  the  others, 
but  they  were  so  short  they  were  out  of 
sight  in  the  crowd.  They  crawled  under 
•      38 


the  elbows  of  the  grown  people  and  stood 
beside  Koolee. 

**  Look,  children,"  she  said  to  them, 
**your  grandfather,  who  is  dead,  sent  you 
this  bear.  He  wants  you  to  send  him 
something.  In  five  days  the  bear's  spirit 
will  go  to  the  land  where  your  grand- 
father's spirit  lives.  What  would  you  like 
to  have  the  bear's  spirit  take  to  your  grand- 
father for  a  gift?" 

^Tll  send  him  the  little  fish  that  father 
carved  for  me  out  of  bone,"  said  Menie. 

He  squirmed  through  the  crowd  and  got 
it  from  a  corner  of  his  bed  and  brought  it  to 
his  mother.    She  put  it  on  the  bear's  head. 

Monnie  gave  her  a  leather  string  with  a 
lucky  stone  tied  to  it.  Koolee  put  that  on 
the  bear's  head  too. 

Then  she  said,  ''There!  In  five  days' 
time  the  bear's  spirit  will  give  the  shadows 
of  these  things  to  your  grandfather.  Then 
we  can  eat  the  head,  but  not  until  we  are 
sure  the  bear's  spirit  has  reached  the  home 
of  the  Dead." 

39 


**  That  is  well,"  the  Angakok  said  to  the 
twins,  when  Koolee  had  finished.  ''Your 
grandfather  will  be  pleased  with  your  pres- 
ents, I  know.  Your  grandfather  was  a  just 
man.  I  knew  him  well.  He  always  paid 
great  respect  to  Me.  Whenever  he  brought 
a  bear  home  he  gave  me  not  only  a  hind 
leg,  but  the  liver  as  well !  I  should  not 
be  surprised  if  he  sent  the  bear  this  way, 
knowing  how  fond  I  am  of  bear's  liver." 

The  Angakok  placed  his  hand  on  his 
stomach  and  rolled  up  his  eyes.  '*  But 
times  are  not  what  they  once  were,"  he 
went  on.  *'  People  care  now  only  for  their 
own  stomachs !  They  would  rather  have 
the  liver  themselves  than  give  it  to  the 
Angakok !  They  will  be  sorry  when  it  is 
too  late." 

He  shook  his  head  and  heaved  a  great 
sigh.  Koolee  looked  at  Kesshoo.  She  was 
very  anxious.  Kesshoo  went  out  at  once 
to  the  storehouse.  He  climbed  to  the  top 
and  got  the  liver. 

By  this  time  all  the  people  had  crawled 
41 


out  of  the  igloo  again,  and  were  ready  to 
carry  home  their  meat.  Kesshoo  ran  to 
the  Angakok  and  gave  him  the  bear's  Hver. 
The  Angakok  handed  it  to  one  of  his  wives 
to  carry.  The  other  one  already  had  the 
bear's  leg.  He  said  to  Kesshoo,  "  You  are 
a  just  man,  like  your  father.  I  know  the 
secrets  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  You 
know  your  duty!  You  shall  have  your  re- 
ward." He  looked  very  solemn  and  wad- 
dled away  toward  his  igloo  with  the  two 
wives  behind  him  carrying  the  meat.  All 
the  rest  of  the  people  followed  after  him 
and  went  into  their  own  igloos. 


Ill 

THE  TWINS  GO  FISHING 


Ill 

THE  TWINS  GO  FISHING 


When  the  people  had  all  gone  away, 
Menie  and  Monnie  sat  down  on  the  side 
of  the  sledge.  Nip  and  Tup  were  busy 
burying  bones  in  the  snow.  The  other 
dogs  had  eaten  all  they  wanted  to  and 
were  now  lying  down  asleep  in  the  sun, 
with  their  noses  on  their  paws. 

Everything  was  still  and  cold.  It  was 
so  still  you  could  almost  hear  the  silence, 
and  so  bright  that  the  twins  had  to  squint 
their  eyes.  In  the  air  there  was  a  faint 
smell  of  cooking  meat. 

Menie  sniffed.  **  I  'm  so  hungry  I  could 
eat  my  boots,"  he  said. 

*'  There  are  better  things  to  eat  than 
boots,"  Monnie  answered.  ''What  would 
you  like  best  of  everything  in  the  world  if 
you  could  have  it?  " 

45 


'*A  nice  piece  of  blubber  from  a  walrus 
or  some  reindeer  tallow,"  said  Menie. 

^*0h,  no,"  Monnie  cried.  ^'That  isn't 
half  as  good  as  reindeer's  stomach,  or 
fishes'  eyes !  Um-m  —  how  I  love  fishes' 
eyes !  I  tell  you,  Menie,  let 's  get  some- 
thing to  eat  and  then  go  fishing,  before  the 
sun  goes  down !  " 

^*A11  right,"  said  Menie.  ''Let's  see  if 
Mother  won't  give  us  a  piece  of  bear's  fat  I 
That  is  almost  as  good  as  blubber  or  fishes' 
eyes." 


46 


II 

They  dived  into  the  igloo.  Their  mother 
was  standing  beside  the  oil  lamp,  putting 
strands  of  dried  moss  into  the  oil.  This 
lamp  was  their  only  stove  and  their  only 
light.  It  did  n't  look  much  like  our  stoves. 
It  was  just  a  piece  of  soapstone,  shaped 
something  like  a  clamshell.  It  was  hol- 
lowed out  so  it  would  hold  the  oil.  All 
along  the  shallow  side  of  the  pan  there 
were  little  tendrils  of  dried  moss,  like 
threads.    These  were  the  wicks. 

Over  the  fire-pan  there  was  a  rack,  and 
from  the  rack  a  stone  pan  hung  down  over 
the  lamp -flame.  It  was  tied  by  leather 
thongs  to  the  rack.  In  the  pan  a  piece  of 
bear's  meat  was  simmering.  The  fire  was 
not  big  enough  to  cook  it  very  well,  but 
there  was  a  little  steam  rising  from  it,  and 
it  made  a  very  good  smell  for  hungry 
noses. 

**We're  hungry  enough  to  eat  our 
boots,"  Menie  said  to  his  mother. 

47 


'^You  must  never  eat  your  boots;  you 
have  but  one  pair!  "  his  mother  answered. 
She  pinched  Menie's  cheek  and  laughed  at 
him. 

Then  she  cut  two  chunks  of  fat  from  a 
piece  of  bear's  meat  which  lay  on  the 
bench.  She  gave  one  to  each  of  the  twins. 
**  Eat  this,  and  soon  you  can  have  some 
cooked  meat,"  she  said.  *' It  isn't  quite 
done  yet." 

**We  don't  want  to  wait  for  the  cooked 
meat,"  cried  Monnie.  '*We  want  to  go. 
fishing  before  the  sun  is  gone.  Give  us 
more  fat  and  we  '11  eat  it  outside." 

**  You  may  go  fishing  if  your  father  will 
go  with  you  and  cut  holes  for  you  in  the 
ice,"  said  her  mother. 

Koolee  cut  off  two  more  pieces  of  fat. 
The  twins  took  a  piece  in  each  hand.  Then 
their  mother  reached  down  their  own  little 
fishing-rods,  which  were  stuck  in  the  walls 
of  the  igloo.  The  twins  had  bear's  meat 
in  both  hands.  They  did  n't  see  how  they 
could  manage  the  fishing-rods  too. 

48 


But  Menie  thought  of  a  way.  **  I  11 
show  you  how,"  he  said  to  Monnie.  He 
held  one  chunk  of  meat  in  his  teeth !  In 
his  left  hand  he  held  the  fishing-rod,  in 
his  right  he  carried  the  other  piece  of 
meat! 

Monnie  did  exactly  what  Menie  did,  and 
then  they  crawled  down  into  the  tunnel. 

49 


Ill 

The  twins  had  some  trouble  getting  out 
of  the  tunnel  because  both  their  hands 
were  full.  And  besides  the  fishing-rods 
kept  getting  between  their  legs.  When 
they  got  outside  they  both  took  great  bites 
of  the  bear's  fat. 

Kesshoo  was  hanging  the  dogs'  har- 
nesses up  on  a  tall  pole,  where  the  dogs 
could  not  get  them.  The  pole  was  eight 
feet  long,  and  it  was  made  of  the  tusk  of 
a  narwhal.  The  harnesses  were  made  of 
walrus  thongs  and  the  dogs  would  eat 
them  if  they  had  a  chance.  That  was  the 
reason  Kesshoo  hung  them  out  of  reach. 
The  twins  ran  to  their  father  at  once.  They 
began  to  tell  him  that  they  wanted  to  go 
fishing  right  away,  —  before  the  sun  went 
down,  —  but  their  mouths  were  so  full  they 
could  n't  get  the  words  out ! 

'*  Mm-m-m-m,"  Menie  began,  chewing 
with  all  his  might  I 

Then  Monnie  did  a  shocking  thing !  She 
51 


swallowed  her  meat  whole,  -  she  was  in 
such  a  hurry  !  It  made  a  great  lump  going 
down  her  throat !  It  almost  choked  her. 
But  she  shut  her  eyes,  jerked  her  head  for- 
ward, and  got  it  down ! 

**Will  you  make  two  holes  in  the  ice 
for  us  to  fish  through  ?  "  she  said.  She  got 
the  words  out  first !  Then  she  took  an- 
other bite  of  meat. 

**  Have  you  got  your  lines  ready,  and 
anything  for  bait?"  asked  their  father. 

By  this  time  Menie  had  swallowed  his 
mouthful  too.  He  said,  ''We  can  take  a 
piece  of  bear's  meat  for  bait.  The  lines 
and  hooks  are  ready." 

Kesshoo  looked  at  the  lines.  The  rods 
were  very  short.  They  were  made  of  drift- 
wood with  a  piece  of  bone  bound  to  the 
end  by  tough  thongs. 

There  was  a  hole  in  the  end  of  the  bone, 
and  through  this  hole  the  line  was  threaded. 
The  line  was  made  of  braided  reindeer 
thongs.  On  the  end  of  the  line  was  a  hook 
carved  out  of  bone. 

52 


**  Your  lines  are  all  right/'  said  Kesshoo. 
"Come  along." 

He  led  the  way  down  to  the  beach.  The 
twins  came  tumbling  after  him,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  tell  you  they  gobbled  their  meat 
all  the  way !  After  the  twins  came  Nip  and 
Tup.  The  ice  was  very  thick.  Kesshoo 
and  the  twins  and  the  pups  walked  out  on 
it  quite  a  distance  from  the  shore. 

Kesshoo  cut  two  round  holes  in  the  ice. 
One  was  for  Menie  and  one  for  Monnie. 

53 


The  holes  were  not  big  enough  for  them 
to  fall  into. 

By  this  time  the  twins  had  eaten  all 
their  meat  except  some  small  pieces  which 
they  saved  for  bait.  They  each  put  a 
piece  of  meat  on  the  hook.  Then  they 
squatted  down  on  their  heels  and  dropped 
the  hooks  into  the  holes. 

Kesshoo  went  back  to  the  village,  and 
left  them  there.  ''  Don't  stay  out  too  long," 
he  called  back  to  them. 

IV 

The  twins  sat  perfectly  still  for  a  long 
time.  Nip  sat  beside  Menie,  and  Tup  sat 
beside  Monnie.  It  grew  colder  and  colder. 
The  sun  began  to  drop  down  toward  the  sea 
again.  At  last  it  rested  like  a  great  round 
red  wheel  right  on  the  Edge  of  the  World  I 

Slowly,  slowly  it  sank  until  only  a  little 
bit  of  the  red  rim  showed ;  then  that  too 
was  gone.  Great  splashes  of  red  color  came 
up  in  the  sky  over  the  place  where  it  had 
been. 

54 


Still  the  twins  sat  patiently  by  their 
holes.  It  grew  darker  and  darker.  The 
colors  faded.  The  stars  began  to  twinkle, 
but  the  twins  did  not  move.  Nip  and  Tup 
ran  races  on  the  ice,  and  rolled  over  each 
other  and  barked. 

At  last  —  all  of  a  sudden  —  there  was  a 
fearful  jerk  on  Monnie's  Hne!  It  took  her 
by  surprise.  The  little  rod  flew  right  out 
of  her  hands  !  Monnie  flung  herself  on  her 
stomach  on  the  ice  and  caught  the  rod  just 
as  it  was  going  down  the  hole !  She  held 
on  hard  and  pulled  like  everything. 

**I  believe  I  Ve  caught  a  whale,''  she 
panted. 

55 


But  she  never  let  go !  She  got  herself 
right  side  up  on  the  ice,  somehow,  and 
pulled  and  pulled  on  her  line. 

"  Let  me  pull  him  in ! "  cried  Menie. 
He  tried  to  take  her  rod. 

**  Get  away,"  screamed  Monnie.  ''I'll 
pull  in  my  own  fish." 

Menie  danced  up  and  down  with  excite- 
ment, still  holding  his  own  rod.  The  pups 
danced  and  barked  too.  Monnie  never 
looked  at  any  of  them.  She  kept  her  eyes 
fixed  on  the  hole  and  pulled. 

At  last  she  shrieked,  "  I  've  got  him, 
I  Ve  got  him  !  "  And  up  through  the  hole 
came  a  great  big  codfish ! 

My !  how  he  did  flop  around  on  the  ice ! 
Nip  and  Tup  were  scared.  They  ran  for 
home  at  the  first  flop. 

"Let's  go  home  now,"  said  Monnie. 
*'  I  want  to  show  my  fine  big  fish  to 
Mother." 

But  Menie  said,  "Wait  a  little  longer 
till  I  catch  one !  I  '11  give  you  one  eye  out 
of  my  fish  if  you  will." 


Monnie  waited.  She  put  another  piece 
of  meat  on  her  hook  and  dropped  it  again 
into  the  hole.  After  a  while  she  said,  ''You 
can  keep  your  old  eye  if  you  get  it.  It's  so 
dark  the  fish  can't  see  to  get  themselves 
caught  anyway.  I  'm  cold.  I  'm  going 
home." 

Menie  got  up  very  slowly  and  pulled  up 
his  line'. 

As  they  turned  toward  the  shore,  Mon- 
nie cried  out,  '*  Look,  look!  The  sky  is  on 
fire  !  "    It  looked  like  it,  truly ! 

Great  white  streamers  were  flashing  from 
the  Edge  of  the  World,  clear  up  into  the 
sky !  They  danced  like  flames.  Some- 
times they  shot  long  banners  of  blue  or 
green  fire  up  to  the  very  stars.  Overhead 
the  sky  shone  red  as  blood.  The  stars 
seemed  blotted  out. 

The  twins  had  seen  many  wonderful 
things  in  the  sky,  but  never,  such  color  as 
this.  Their  eyes  grew  as  round  and  big 
and  popping  as  those  of  Monnie's  codfish, 
while  they  watched  the  long  banners  join 

57 


themselves  into  a  great  waving  curtain  of 
color  that  hung  clear  across  the  heavens. 

''What  is  it?  Oh,  what  is  it?"  they 
gasped.  They  were  too  astonished  to  move, 
and  they  were  a  good  deal  frightened,  too. 
They  never  knew  the  sky  could  act  like 
that. 

Monnie  felt  her  black  hair  rise  under  her 
little  fur  hood.  She  seized  Menie's  coat. 
'*  Do  you  suppose  the  world  is  going  to  be 
burned  up?  "  she  said. 

S8 


Just  then  they  heard  a  voice  calHng, 
"  Menie,  Monnie,  where  are  you?" 

'*  Here  we  are,"  they  answered.  Their 
teeth  were  chattering  with  cold  and  fright, 
and  they  ran  up  the  slope  and  flung  them- 
selves into  their  mother's  arms. 

'*Oh,  Mother,  what  is  the  matter  with 
the  sky?  "  they  gasped. 

Then  Koolee  looked  up  too.  The  long 
streamers  were  still  flinging  themselves  up 
toward  the  red  dome  overhead. 

We  call  this  the  ''aurora,"  or  ''north- 
ern lights,"  and  know  that  electricity  causes 
it,  but  the  twins'  mother  could  n't  know 
that.  She  told  them  just  what  had  been 
told  her  when  she  was  a  little  girl. 

She  said,  "That  is  the  dance  of  the 
Spirits  of  the  Dead !  Have  n't  you  ever 
seen  it  before?" 

"Not  like  this,"  said  the  twins.  "This 
is  so  big,  and  so  red  ! " 

"The  sky  is  not  often  so  bright,"  said 
Koolee.  "  Some  say  it  is  the  spirits  of  little 
children  dancing  and  playing  together  in 

59 


the  skyl  They  will  not  hurt  you.  You 
need  not  be  afraid.  See  how  they  dance  in 
a  ring  all  around  the  Edge  of  the  World  ? 
They  look  as  if  they  were  having  fun/' 

"  It  goes  around  the  Edge  of  the  World 
just  like  the  flames  around  our  lamp/*  said 
Menie.  *'  Maybe  it's  the  Giants*  lamp!" 

Menie  and  Monnie  believed  in  Giants.  So 
did  their  mother.  They  thought  the  Giants 
lived  in  the  middle  of  the  Great  White 
World,  where  the  snow  never  melts. 

The  thought  of  the  Giants  scared  them 
all.  The  twins  gave  the  fish  to  their  mo- 
ther, and  then  they  all  three  scuttled  up 
the  snowy  slope  toward  the  bright  window 
of  their  igloo  just  as  fast  as  they  could  go. 
When  they  got  inside  they  found  some  hot 
bear's  meat  waiting  for  them,  and  Monnie 
had  both  the  eyes  from  her  fish  to  eat- 
But  she  gave  one  to  Menie. 

When  they  were  warmed  and  fed,  they 
pulled  off  their  little  fur  suits,  crawled  into  the 
piles  of  warm  skins  on  the  sleeping-bench, 
and  in  two  minutes  were  sound  asleep. 


IV 

THE  SNOW  HOUSE 


IV 

THE  SNOW  HOUSE 

I 

It  is  very  hard  to  tell  what  day  it  is,  or 
what  hour  in  the  day,  in  a  place  where  the 
days  and  nights  are  all  mixed  up,  and 
where  there  are  no  clocks. 

Menie  and  Monnie  had  never  seen  a 
clock  in  their  whole  lives.  If  they  had 
they  would  have  thought  it  was  alive,  and 
perhaps  would  have  been  afraid  of  it. 

But  people  everywhere  in  the  world  get 
sleepy,  so  the  Eskimos  sometimes  count 
their  time  by  ''sleeps."  Instead  of  saying 
five  days  ago,  they  say  ''five  sleeps"  ago. 

The  night  after  the  bear  was  killed  it  be- 
gan to  snow.  The  wind  howled  around  the 
igloo  and  piled  the  snow  over  it  in  huge  drifts. 

The  dogs  were  buried  under  it  and  had 
to  be   dug  out,  —  all    but    Nip  and  Tup. 

63 


They  stayed  inside  with  the  twins  and 
slept  in  their  bed. 

The  twins  and  their  father  and  mother 
were  glad  to  stay  in  the  warm  hut. 

At  last  the  snow  stopped,  the  air  cleared, 
and  the  twins  and  Kesshoo  went  out. 
Koolee  stayed  in  the  igloo. 

She  sat  on  her  sleeping -bench  upon  a 
pile  of  soft  furs.  A  bear's  skin  was  stretched 
up  on  the  wall  behind  her.  She  had  a  cozy 
nest  to  work  in. 

The  lamp  stood  on  the  bench  beside  her. 
She  was  making  a  beautiful  new  suit  for 
Menie.  It  was  made  of  fawn-skin  as  soft 
as  velvet,  and  the  hood  and  sleeves  were 
trimmed  with  white  rabbit's  fur. 

Her  thimble  was  made  of  ivory,  and  her 
needle  too.  Her  thread  was  a  fine  strip  of 
hide.  There  was  a  bunch  of  such  thread 
beside  her. 

Soon  Kesshoo  came  in,  bringing  with 
him  a  dried  fish  and  a  piece  of  bear's  meat 
from  the  storehouse. 

Koolee  looked  up  from  her  sewing. 
64 


**  Is  n't  it  five  sleeps  since  you  killed  the 
bear?  "  she  said. 

Kesshoo  counted  on  his  fingers.  "Yes," 
he  said,  "it  is  five  sleeps." 

"  Then  it  is  time  to  eat  the  bear's  head," 
said  Koolee.  "  His  spirit  is  now  with  our 
fathers." 

"Why  not  have  a  feast?"  said  Kesshoo. 
"  There  has  n't  been  any  fresh  meat  in  the 
village  since  the  bear  was  killed,  and  I 
don't  believe  the  rest  have  had  anything 
to  eat  but  dried  fish.  We  have  plenty  of 
bear's  meat  still." 

Koolee  hopped  down  ofif  the  bench  and 
put  some  more  moss  into  the  lamp. 

"You  bring  in  the  meat,"  she  said,  "and 
tell  the  twins  to  go  to  all  the  igloos  and 
invite  the  people  to  come  at  sunset." 

"All  right,"  Kesshoo  answered,  and  he 

went  out  at  once  to  the  storehouse  to  get 

the  meat. 

II 

When  he  came  out  of  the  tunnel,  Kes- 
shoo found   the  twins   trying  to   make  a 

6S 


snow  house  for  the  dogs.  They  were  n't 
getting  on  very  well. 

Kesshoo  could  make  wonderful  snow 
houses.  He  had  made  a  beautiful  one  when 
the  first  heavy  snows  of  winter  had  come, 
and  the  family  had  lived  in  it  while  Koolee 
finished  building  the  stone  igloo.  The  twins 
had  watched  him  make  it.  It  seemed  so 
easy  they  were  sure  they  could  do  it  too. 
Kesshoo  said,  **If  you  will  run  to  all  the 
igloos  and  tell  the  people  to  come  at  sun- 
set to  eat  the  bear's  head,  I  will  help  you 
build  the  snow  house  for  the  dogs." 

Menie  and  Monnie  couldn't  run.  No- 
body could.  The  snow  was  too  deep.  They 
went  in  every  step  above  their  knees.  But 
they  ploughed  along  and  gave  their  mes- 
sage at  each  igloo. 

Everybody  was  very  glad  to  come,  and 
Koko  said,  *'  I  '11  come  right  now  and  stay 
if  you  want  me  to." 

**Come  along,"  said  the  twins. 

They  went  back  to  their  own  house, 
kicking  the  snow  to  make  a  path.    Koko 

66 


went  with  them.  The  snow  was  just  the 
right  kind  for  a  snow  house.  It  packed 
well  and  made  good  blocks. 

While  the  twins  were  away  giving  the 
invitations,  Kesshoo  carried  great  pieces  of 
bear's  meat  into  the  house. 

Koolee  put  in  the  cooking-pan  all  the 
meat  it  would  hold,  and  kept  the  blaze 
bright  in  the  lamp  underneath  to  cook  it. 

Then  Kesshoo  took  his  long  ivory  knife 
and  went  out  to  help  the  twins  with  the 
snow  house,  as  he  had  promised. 

67 


**See,  this  is  the  way/'  he  said  to  them. 

He  took  an  unbroken  patch  of  snow 
where  no  one  had  stepped.  He  made  a 
wide  sweep  of  his  arm  and  marked  a  circle 
in  the  snow  with  his  knife. 

The  circle  was  just  as  big  as  he  meant 
the  house  to  be.  Then  he  cut  out  blocks  of 
snow  from  the  space  inside  the  circle.  He 
placed  these  big  blocks  of  snow  around  the 
circle  on  the  line  he  had  marked  with  his 
knife. 

When  he  got  the  first  row  done  Menie 
said,  ''  I  can  do  that!  Let  me  try." 

He  took  the  knife  and  cut  out  a  block. 
It  was  n't  nice  and  even  like  his  father's 
blocks. 

**  That  will  never  do,"  his  father  said. 
**Your  house  will  tumble  down  unless 
your  blocks  are  true." 

He  made  the  sides  of  the  block  straight 
by  cutting  off  some  of  the  snow. 

**  Now  all  the  other  blocks  in  this  row 
must  be  just  like  this  one,"  he  said. 

Koko  tried  next.  His  block  was  almost 
68 


right  the  first  time.  But  then,  as  I  have 
told  you  before,  Koko  was  six. 

Monnie  tried  the  next  one.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  hers  wouldn't  do  at  all.  It  was 
dreadfully  crooked.  They  took  turns.  Menie 
cut  a  new  block  while  Koko  placed  the  last 
one  on  the  snow  wall. 

Kesshoo  had  to  put  on  the  top  blocks  to 
make  the  roof  Neither  Koko  nor  Menie 
could  do  it  right,  though  they  tried  and 
tried.    It  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  do. 

When  the  blocks  were  all  laid  up  and 
69 


the  dome  finished,  Kesshoo  said,  "  Now, 
Monnie  can  help  pack  it  with  snow." 

Monnie  got  the  snow-shovel.  The  snow- 
shovel  was  made  of  three  flat  pieces  of  wood 
sewed  together  with  leather  thongs.  It  had 
an  edge  of  horn  sewed  on  with  thongs,  too. 

Monnie  threw  loose  snow  on  the  snow 
house  and  spatted  it  down  with  the  back 
of  the  shovel. 

While  she  was  doing  this,  Menie  and 
Koko  built  a  tunnel-entrance  for  the  dogs 
just  like  the  big  one  on  the  stone  house. 

They  worked  so  hard  they  were  warm 
as  toast,  though  it  was  as  cold  as  our  cold- 
est winter  weather;  and  when  it  was  all 
finished  Menie  ran  clear  over  it  just  to 
show  how  strong  and  well-built  it  was. 

Ill 

When  the  snow  house  was  all  ready, 
Menie  called  the  three  big  dogs.  Tooky 
was  the  leader,  and  the  three  dogs  together 
were  Kesshoo's  sledge  team.  Tooky  was 
a  hunting-dog  too. 

70 


When  Menie  called  the  dogs,  the  dogs 
thought  they  were  going  to  be  harnessed, 
so  they  hid  behind  the  igloo  and  pretended 
they  did  n't  hear.  Koko  and  Menie  followed 
them,  but  the  moment  they  got  near,  the 
dogs  bounded  away.  They  went  round  to 
the  front  of  the  igloo  and  ran  into  the 
tunnel. 

Koolee  was  just  turning  the  meat  in  the 
pan  with  a  pointed  stick.  There  was  a  piece 
of  bear's  meat  lying  on  the  bench. 

The  dogs  smelled  the  meat.  They  stuck 
their  heads  into  the  room,  and  when  Koo- 
lee's  back  was  turned,  Tooky  stole  the  meat ! 

Just  then  Koolee  turned  around.  She 
saw  Tooky.  She  shrieked,  ''Oh,  my  meat, 
my  meat!"  and  whacked  Tooky  across 
the  nose  with  the  snow  stick ! 

But  Tooky  was  bound  to  have  the  meat. 
She  ran  out  of  the  tunnel  with  it  in  her 
mouth,  just  as  Menie  and  Koko  got  round 
to  the  front  of  the  igloo  once  more. 

**  I-yi !  I-yi !  "  they  screamed,  **  Tooky 's 
got  the  meat!"     Kesshoo  caught  up  his 

71 


dog -whip    and    came    running    from   the 
storehouse. 

The  other  two  dogs  wanted  the  meat 
too.  They  flew  at  Tooky  and  snarled  and 
fought  with  her  to  get  it. 

Then  Koolee's  head  appeared  in  the 
tunnel-hole !  Tooky  was  crouching  in  the 
snow  in  front  of  the  tunnel,  trying  to  fight 
off  the  other  two  dogs  and  guard  the  meat 
at  the  same  time. 

She  was  n't  doing  a  thing  with  her  tail, 
but  she  was  very  busy  with  all  the  rest  of 
her.  Her  tail  was  pointed  right  toward 
the  tunnel. 

The  moment  she  saw  it  Koolee  seized 
the  tail  with  both  hands  and  jerked  it  like 
everything!  Tooky  was  so  surprised  she 
yelped.  And  when  she  opened  her  mouth 
to  yelp,  of  course  she  dropped  the  meat. 

Just  at  that  instant  Kesshoo's  whip-lash 
came  singing  about  the  ears  of  all  three 
dogs. 

''  Snap,  snap,"  it  went.  They  jumped  to 
get  out  of  the  way  of  the  lash. 

73 


Then  Koolee  leaped  forward  and  snatched 
the  meat  from  under  their  noses,  and  scut- 
tled back  with  it  into  the  tunnel  before  you 
could  say  Jack  Robinson. 

It  is  dangerous  to  snatch  meat  away 
from  hungry  dogs.  If  Kesshoo  had  n't  been 
slashing  at  them  with  his  whip,  and  if 
Menie  and  Koko  had  n't  been  screaming  at 
them  with  all  their  might,  so  the  dogs  were 
nearly  distracted,  Koolee  might  have  been 
badly  bitten. 

Just  then  Monnie  came  up  with  some 
dried  fish.  She  threw  one  of  the  fish  over 
in  front  of  the  snow  house. 

The  dogs  saw  it  and  leaped  for  it.  Then 
she  threw  another  into  the  snow  hut  itself. 
They  went  after  that.  She  fed  them  all 
with  dried  fish  until  they  were  so  full  they 
curled  up  in  the  snow  house  and  went  to 
sleep. 


V 

THE  FEAST 


ir2^ 


V 

THE  FEAST 

I 

The  moment  the  sun  had  gone  out  ot 
sight  all  the  .people  in  the  village  came 
pouring  out  of  their  tunnels  on  their  way 
to  the  feast  at  Kesshoo*s  house. 

Kesshoo's  house  was  so  small  that  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  people  could  not  pos- 
sibly get  into  it 

But  the  Eskimos  are  used  to  crowding 
into  very  small  spaces,  indeed.  Sometimes 
a  man  and  his  wife  and  all  his  children  will 
live  in  a  space  about  the  size  of  a  big 
double  bed. 

First  the  Angakok  came  out  of  his  igloo, 
looking  fatter  than  ever.  The  Angakok 
always  found  plenty  to  eat  somehow.  Both 
his  wives  were  thin.  Their  faces  looked 
like  baked  apples,  all  brown  and  wrinkled 

77 


When  they  reached  Kesshoo's  house, 
the' Angakok  went  into  the  tunnel  first. 

Now  I  can't  tell  you  whether  he  had 
grown  fatter  during  the  five  days,  or 
whether  the  entrance  had  grown  smaller, 
but  this  much  I  know :  the  Angakok  got 
stuck !  He  could  n't  get  himself  into  the 
room  no  matter  how  much  he  tried !  He 
squirmed  and  wriggled  and  twisted,  until 
his  face  was  very  red  and  he  looked  as  if 
he  would  burst,  but  there  he  stayed. 

Other  people  had  crawled  into  the  tun- 
nel after  him.  His  two  wives  were  just 
behind.  Everybody  got  stuck,  of  course, 
because  no  one  could  move  until  the  Anga- 
kok did.  He  was  just  like  a  cork  in  the 
neck  of  a  bottle. 

Kesshoo  and  Koolee  and  the  twins  and 
Nip  and  Tup  were  all  in  the  igloo.  When 
they  saw  the  Angakok' s  face  come  through 
the  hole  they  thought,  of  course,  the  rest 
of  him  would  come  too.  But  it  did  n't,  and 
the  Angakok  was  mad  about  it. 

**  Why  don't  they  build  igloos  the  way 
78 


they  used  to?"  he  growled.  "Every  year 
the  tunnels  get  smaller  and  smaller!  Am 
I  to  remain  here  forever?"  he  went  on. 
'*  Why  does  n't  somebody  help  me  ?  " 

Kesshoo  and  Koolee  seized  him  under 
his  arms.  They  pulled  and  pulled.  The 
two  wives  pushed  him  from  behind. 

''  I-yi !  I-yi !  "  screamed  the  Angakok. 
**  You  will  scrape  my  skin  off!  " 

He  kicked  out  behind  with  his  feet.  His 
wives  backed  hastily,  to  get  out  of  the 
w^ay.  That  made  them  bump  into  Koko's 
mother  who  was  just  behind  them.  Her 
baby  was  in  her  hood,  and  when  she 
backed,  the  baby's  head  was  bumped  on 
the  roof  of  the  tunnel. 

The  baby  began  to  roar.  In  the  tunnel 
it  sounded  like  a  clap  of  thunder.  The 
wives  of  the  Angakok  and  Koko's  mother 
all  began  to  talk  at  once,  and  with  that  and 
the  baby's  crying  I  suppose  there  never 
was  a  tunnel  that  held  so  much  noise.  It 
all  came  into  the  igloo,  and  it  sounded 
quite  frightful.    The  twins  crept  into  the 

79 


farthest  corner  of  the  sleeping-bench  and 
watched  their  father  and  mother  and  the 
Angakok,  with  their  eyes  almost  popping 
out  of  their  heads. 

Nip  and  Tup  thought  they  would  help  a 
little,  so  they  jumped  off  the  bench,  and 
barked  at  the  Angakok.  You  see,  they 
did  n't  know  he  was  a  great  medicine  man. 
They  thought  maybe  he  ought  not  to  be 
there  at  all. 

Nip  even  snapped  at  the  Angakok's  earl 
80 


That  made  the  Angakok  more  angry 
than  ever.  He  reached  into  the  room, 
seized  Nip  with  one  hand  and  flung  him  up 
on  to  the  sleeping-bench.  Nip  Ht  on  top 
of  Menie.  Nip  was  very  much  surprised, 
and  so  was  Menie. 

Now,  whether  the  jerk  he  gave  in  throw- 
ing Nip  did  it  or  not,  I  cannot  say,  but  at 
that  instant  Kesshoo  and  Koolee  both  gave 
a  great  pull  in  front.  At  the  same  moment 
the  two  wives  gave  a  great  push  behind, 
and  the  next  moment  after  that,  there  was 
the  Angakok,  still  red,  and  still  angry,  sit- 
ting on  the  edge  of  the  sleeping-bench  in 
the  best  place  near  the  fire  ! 

Then  his  two  wives  came  crawling 
through.  The  Angakok  looked  at  them  as 
if  he  thought  they  had  made  him  stick  in 
the  tunnel,  and  had  done  it  on  purpose, 
too.  The  wives  scuttled  up  on  to  the  sleep- 
ing-bench, and  got  into  the  farthest  corner 
of  it  as  fast  as  they  could. 

The  women  and  children  always  sat 
back  on  the  bench  at  a  feast. 

8i 


-i-: 


When  Koko's  mother  came  in,  the  baby 
was  still  crying.  She  climbed  up  on  to  the 
bed  with  him,  and  Menie  and  Monnie 
showed  him  the  pups  and  that  made  the 
baby  laugh  again. 

As  fast  as  they  came  in,  the  women  and 
children  packed  themselves  away  on  the 
sleeping -bench.  The  men  sat  along  the 
edge  of  it  with  their  feet  on  the  floor. 


82 


II 

The  smell  of  food  soon  made  every- 
body cheerful.  When  at  last  they  were  all 
crowded  into  the  room,  Koolee  placed  the 
bear's  head  and  other  pans  of  meat  on  the 
floor. 

Then  she  crawled  back  on  to  the  bench 
with  the  other  women. 

The  Angakok  was  the  first  one  to  help 
himself  He  reached  down  and  took  a 
large  chunk  of  meat.  He  held  it  up  to  his 
mouth  and  took  hold  of  the  end  with  his 
teeth.  Then  he  sawed  off  a  huge  mouthful 
with  his  knife. 

It-  looked  as  if  he  would  surely  cut  off 
the  end  of  his  nose  too,  but  he  did  n't. 

When  the  men  had  all  helped  them- 
selves, pieces  of  meat  were  handed  out  to 
the  women  and  children. 

Soon  they  were  all  eating  as  if  their 
lives  depended  on  it.  And  now  I  think  of 
it,  their  lives  did  depend  on  it,  to  be  sure  I 

I  will  not  speak  about  their  table  man- 
83 


ners.  In  fact,  they  hadn't  any  to  speak  of! 
They  had  nothing  to  eat  with  the  meat, 
—  not  even  salt,  —  but  it  was  a  great  feast 
to  them  for  all  that,  and  they  ate  and  ate 
until  every  scrap  was  gone. 

The  Angakok  grew  better-natured  every 
minute.  By  the  time  he  had  eaten  all  he 
could  hold  he  was  really  quite  happy  and 
benevolent!  He  clasped  his  hands  over 
his  stomach  and  smiled  on  everybody. 

The  women  chattered  in  their  corner  of 
the  sleeping -bench,  and  Koolee  showed 
Koko's  mother  the  new  fur  suit  trimmed 
with  white  rabbit's  skin  that  she  was  mak- 
ing for  Menie.  And  Koko's  mother  said  she 
really  must  make  one  for  Koko  just  like  it. 

The  twins  and  Koko  talked  about  a  trap 
to  catch  hares  which  they  meant  to  make 
as  soon  as  the  long  days  began  again,  and 
the  baby  went  to  sleep  on  a  pile  of  furs  in 
the  corner.  Menie  fed  the  pups  with  some 
of  his  own  meat,  and  gave  them  each  a 
bone.  Nip  and  Tup  buried  their  bones 
under  the  baby  and  then  went  to  sleep  too. 

84 


Ill 

After  a  while  the  Angakok  turned  his 
face  to  the  wall,  as  he  always  did  when  he 
meant  to  tell  a  story  or  sing  a  song.  Then 
he  said,  *'  Listen,  my  children!  "  He  called 
everybody  —  even  the  grown-up  people — - 
his  children  1  Everybody  listened.  They 
always  listened  when  the  Angakok  spoke. 

The  Angakok  knew  the  secrets  of  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars.  He  had  told  them 
so  many  times !  The  people  believed  it, 
and  it  may  be  that  the  Angakok  really  be- 
lieved it  himself,  though  I  have  some  doubt 
about  that. 

*'  Listen,  my  children,"  said  the  Anga- 
kok, *'  and  I  will  tell  you  wonderful  things. 

''  There  is  a  world  beneath  the  sea!  You 
catch  glimpses  of  that  world  yourselves  in 
calm  summer  weather,  when  the  water  is 
still,  and  you  know  that  I  speak  the 
truth ! 

**  Then  you  can  see  the  shadows  of 
rocks    and    islands    and    glaciers    in   the 

85 


smooth  water.  Far  below  you  see  blue 
sky  and  white  clouds.  That  is  the  calm 
world  in  which  the  Spirits  of  the  Dead 
live.  I  have  visited  that  underworld,  many 
times  —  I  have  talked  there  with  the  spirits 
of  your  ancestors." 

The  Angakok  paused  and  looked  around 
to  see  if  every  one  was  paying  attention. 
Then  he  went  on  with  his  story. 

*'  Do  you  remember  how  two  springs 
ago  there  were  so  few  walruses  and  seals 
along  the  coast  that  you  nearly  died  for 
lack  of  food  and  oil  ? "  he  said.  "  My 
children,  it  was  /  who  brought  the  seals 
and  walruses  back  to  you !  Without  my 
efforts  you  might  all  have  starved ! 

"  I  will  tell  you  of  the  perils  of  a  fearful 
journey  which  I  undertook  for  your  sakes. 
Then  you  will  see  what  you  owe  to  the 
skill  and  faithfulness  of  your  Angakok  !  " 

All  the  people  looked  very  solemn,  and 
nodded  their  heads.    The  Angakok  went  on. 

"You  must  know  that  in  the  depths  of 
the  underworld,   far  beyond  the  beautiful 

86 


abode  of  the  Spirits  of  the  Dead,  lives  the 
Old  Woman  of  the  Sea  ! 

''  There  she  sits  forever  and  forever  be- 
side a  monstrous  lamp.  Underneath  the 
lamp  is  a  great  saucer  to  catch  the  oil 
which  drips  from  it. 

''  In  that  saucer  there  are  whole  flocks 
of  sea-birds  swimming  about !  All  the  ani- 
mals that  live  in  the  sea — the  whales  and 
walruses,  the  codfish  and  the  seals  —  swarm 
in  the  saucer  of  the  Old  Woman  of  the 
Sea.  That  is  where  they  all  come  frorn. 
Sometimes  the  Old  Woman  of  the  Sea 
keeps  all  the  creatures  in  the  saucer.  Then 
there  are  no  seal  or  fish  or  walrus  along 
our  coasts,  and  there  is  hunger  among  the 
innuit  (human  beings). 

**At  the  time  of  my  journey  she  had 
kept  all  the  creatures  for  so  long  a  time  in 
her  saucer  that  you  and  many  others  were 
nearly  dead  for  lack  of  food. 

**  It  was  then  that  I  prepared  myself  for 
the  perils  of  this  journey  to  the  underworld. 
I  called  my  Tornak,  or  guiding  spirit,  to 

87 


lead  my  steps.  Without  his  Tornak  an 
Angakok  can  do  nothing.  The  Tornak 
came  at  once  in  answer  to  my  call.  He 
took  me  by  the  hand,  and  we  plunged 
down  into  the  water.  First  we  passed 
through  the  beautiful  World  of  Spirits, 
where  it  is  always  summer.  This  part  of 
the  way  was  quite  pleasant,  but  on  the  far- 
ther side  of  that  world  we  came  to  a  fear- 
ful abyss.  It  could  be  crossed  only  on  a 
large  slippery  wheel,  as  slippery  as  ice. 

**  I  mounted  this  wheel  and  was  whirled 
across  the  chasm.  No  sooner  had  I  reached 
the  other  side  than  new  terrors  came  upon 
me.  I  had  to  pass  by  great  cauldrons  of 
boiling  oil,  in  which  seals  were  swimming 
about. 

"A  misstep  would  have  sent  me  plung- 
ing into  the  boiling  oil,  and  you  would 
have  lost  your  Angakok  forever!  " 

The  thought  of  this  was  so  dreadful  that 
the  Angakok  paused  and  wiped  his  eyes. 
Then  he  went  on  again  with  his  story. 

*'  However,  with  great  courage  I  kept 
88 


upon  my  way  until  at  last  I  saw  the  Old 
Woman's  house!  A  deep  gulf  lay  between 
us  and  her  dwelling,  and  outside  it  stood 
a  great  dog  with  bloody  jaws.  This  dog 
guards  the  entrance,  and  he  sleeps  only  for 
a  single  moment,  once  in  a  very  great 
while." 

**  For  six  days  I  and  my  Tornak  waited 
there  for  the  dog  to  sleep.  At  last  on  the 
seventh  day  he  closed  his  eyes!  Instantly 
the  Tornak  seized  my  hand  and  drew  me 
across  the  bridge  which  spanned  the 
chasm.  This  bridge  was  as  narrow  as  a 
single  thread. 

**  When  we  were  safely  across  the  bridge 
we  passed  the  sleeping  dog  and  boldly 
entered  the  Old  Woman's  house.  The  Old 
Woman  is  terrible  to  look  upon!  Her 
hand  is  the  size  of  a  large  walrus,  and  her 
teeth  like  the  rocks  along  the  coast!"  The 
Angakok  dropped  his  voice  to  a  whisper. 

**  However,  when  she  looked  upon  Me 
she  trembled!"  he  said.  ''  She  saw  at  once 
that  I  possessed  great  power,  and  was  a 

89 


great  Angakok.  I  spoke  to  her  flattering 
words.  Then  I  told  her  of  the  hunger  of 
my  children ! 

**  I  begged  that  she  would  send  the  seal 
and  walrus  and  sea-birds  to  our  coast  at 
once.  But  she  had  no  mind  to  yield  to  my 
requests.  Then  I  stormed  and  threatened." 
The  Angakok's  voice  grew  louder.  *'  The 
walls  shook  with  the  thunder  of  my  voice ! 
At  last  I  seized  her  by  the  hair !  I  tipped 
over  the  saucer  with  my  foot !  My  great 
power  prevailed  against  the  mighty  sor- 
ceress ! 

*'The  seal  and  walrus  swam  away.  The 
birds  flew  into  the  air  and  were  gone.  I 
had  conquered  the  Old  Woman  of  the 
Sea!  My  children  were  saved!"  The 
Angakok  was  silent  for  a  moment.  Then 
he  spoke  again  in  a  natural  voice. 

*'When  I  opened  my  eyes  in  my  own 
igloo  again,"  he  said,  **the  famine  was 
already  over.  Flocks  of  sea-birds  were 
flying  overhead.  The  sea  swarmed  with 
fish,  and  with  walrus  and  seal.   Every  one 

90 


along  the  whole  coast  was  happy.  Ask 
yourselves  —  is  it  not  so  ?  " 

The  Angakok  seemed  very  much  pleased 
with  himself,  and  he  looked  about,  as  if  he 
expected  every  one  else  to  be  pleased  with 
him  too.  All  the  people  were  filled  with 
wonder  at  his  great  power.  They  began  to 
talk  among  themselves. 

*'  Yes,  I  remember  the  famine  well,"  said 
Koko's  father.  ''1  was  away  up  the  coast 
that  season.'  Several  died  in  our  village 
for  lack  of  food." 

Other  men  remembered  things  about 
other  times  when  food  had  been  scarce. 

*'  It  is  lucky,"  they  said  to  each  other, 
**that  here  we  have  a  great  Angakok  who 
understands  all  the  secrets  of  the  World  and 
who  can  save  us  from  such  dreadful  things/* 


91 


.^x.-  ^^ 


IV 

At  last  Kesshoo  said,  **  Will  you  tell  us, 
great  Angakok,  how  you  make  these  won- 
derful journeys  ?  " 

**Do  you  really  wish  to  know?"  asked 
the  Angakok.  '*  If  you  do,  I  will  summon 
my  guiding  spirits  to  tell  you,  but  they 
will  speak  only  in  the  darkness." 

Kesshoo  took  the  lamp  at  once  and  put 
it  out  in  the  tunnel.  Then  he  placed  a  thick 
musk-ox  hide  over  the  entrance,  so  that 
not  a  single  ray  of  light  came  into  the 
room.  The  darkness  could  almost  be  felt. 
Everybody  sat  very  still  and  listened. 

Soon  a  heavy  body  was  heard  to  strike 
the  floor  with  a  dull  thud,  and  a  strange 
voice  said,  *'Who  calls  me?" 

Another  voice  said,  "  You  are  called, 
mighty  spirits,  to  tell  these  children  of  the 
labors  of  their  Angakok." 

Then  began  all  sorts  of  strange  noises, 
as  of  different  persons  speaking.  All  the 
voices  sounded  much  like  the  Angakok's, 

93 


and  they  all  said  what  a  great  medicine 
man  the  Angakok  was,  and  how  every  one 
in  the  village  must  be  sure  to  do  what  he 
told  them  to ! 

At  last  the  Angakok  himself  spoke,  in 
his  own  voice.  ''I  will  tell  you  how  I  make 
these  strange  journeys,"  he  said. 

*'  My  body  is  now  lying  on  the  floor  at 
your  feet.  Now  I  begin  to  rise.  You  can- 
not see  me.  You  cannot  touch  me.  Now 
I  am  floating  about  your  heads,  now  I  am 
touching  the  roof!  I  can  go  wherever  I 
please !  Nothing  can  stop  me !  I  know 
the  secret  places  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars.  I  can  fly  through  the  roof  and  go  at 
once  to  the  moon,  if  I  wish  to." 

Then  the  voice  was  still.  Nobody  moved 
or  spoke. 

Monnie  had  gone  to  sleep  in  the  corner 
of  the  bed,  but  Koko  and  Menie  were  still 
awake.  They  had  listened  to  every  word 
about  the  Old  Woman  of  the  Sea,  and  how 
the  Angakok  traveled  to  the  moon. 

You  know  I  told  you  before  that  Koko 
94 


was  six.  He  wanted  to  know  all  about 
things.  So  he  spoke  right  out  in  the  dark, 
when  every  one  else  was  still. 

He  said,  "Mother,  if  the  Angakok  can 
go  anywhere  he  wants  to,  why  could  n't  he 
get  out  of  the  tunnel?  " 

Koko's  mother  tried  to  hush  him  up. 
*'  Sh,  sh,"  she  said,  and  put  her  hand  over 
his  mouth.  At  least  she  thought  she  did, 
but  she  made  a  mistake  in  the  dark  and 
put  her  hand  over  Menie's  mouth  instead! 

95 


Menie  tried  to  say,  '*  I  never  said  a 
word,"  but  he  could  only  make  queer 
sounds,  because  Koko's  mother's  hand  was 
tight  on  his  mouth. 

Of  course  Koko  did  n't  know  his  mother 
was  trying  to  keep  him  still,  so  he  said 
again,  ''Why  is  it,  mother?" 

Koko's  mother  heard  Koko's  voice  speak- 
ing just  as  plainly  as  ever  though  she  was 
sure  she  had  her  hand  over  his  mouth !  She 
was  frightened. 

**  Magic  !  magic! "  she  screamed.  **  Bring 
the  light!  Koko  is  bewitched!  I  have  my 
hand  over  his  mouth,  yet  you  hear  that  he 
talks  as  plainly  as  ever!" 

Koko  tried  to  say,  **  Your  hand  is  n't 
over  my  mouth,"  and  Menie  tried  to  say, 
**It's  over  mine!"  but  he  could  only  say, 
''  M-m-m,"  because  she  held  on  so  tight ! 

Koko's  mother  was  making  so  much 
noise  herself  that  she  would  n't  have  heard 
what  either  one  said  anyway.  The  baby 
woke  up  and  whimpered.  Nip  and  Tup 
woke  up  and  barked  like  everything. 

96 


Kesshoo  got  the  light  from  the  tunnel 
as  quickly  as  he  could,  and  set  it  on  the 
bench.  Then  every  one  saw  what  was  the 
matter !  They  all  laughed  —  all  but  Menie 
and  the  Angakok.  The  Angakok  said  to 
Koko's  father,  "You'd  better  look  after 
that  boy.  He  is  disrespectful  to  Me,  That 
is  a  bad  beginning !  " 

Koko's. father  was  ashamed  of  him.  He 
said,  ''  Koko  is  so  small !  " 

But  the  Angakok  said,  ''Koko  is  six. 
He  is  old  enough  to  know  better." 


97 


Everybody  was  so  glad  to  see  the  light 
again  that  they  all  began  to  talk  at  once. 

Some  one  said  to  Kesshoo,  ''Tell  us 
about  the  long  journey  to  the  south  you 
took  once  long  ago." 

Then  everybody  else  listened,  while  Kes- 
shoo told  about  how  once  he  had  taken  his 
dog-sledge  with  a  load  of  musk-ox  and 
seal  skins  on  it  far  down  the  coast,  and 
how  at  last  he  had  come  to  a  little  settle- 
ment where  the  houses  were  all  made  of 
wood,  if  they  would  believe  it ! 

He  told  them  that  in  the  bay  before  the 
village  there  was  a  boat  as  big  as  the  Big 
Rock  itself.  It  had  queer  white  wings,  and 
the  wind  blew  on  these  wings -and  made 
the  boat  go ! 

Kesshoo  had  been  out  in  a  kyak  to  see 
it.  He  had  even  paddled  all  round  it.  The 
men  on  the  great  boat  had  fair  hair,  and 
one  of  them,  the  chief  man  of  all,  had 
bought  some  of  Kesshoo's  skins  and  one  of 

98 


his  dogs.  The  man  was  a  great  chief.  His 
name  was  Nansen. 

This  great  chief  had  told  Kesshoo  that 
he  was  going  to  take  a  sledge  and  go 
straight  into  the  inland  country  where  the 
Giants  live!  He  said  he  was  going  to 
cross  the  great  ice !  No  man  had  ever 
done  that  since  the  world  began. 

Kesshoo  thought  probably  the  great 
chief  had  been  eaten  by  the  Giants,  but  he 
did  not  know  surely,  because  he  had  never 
been  back  there  since  to  find  out.  And  to 
be  sure,  if  he  had  been  eaten  by  Giants,  no 
one  ever  would  know  about  it  anyway. 

Then  Kesshoo  showed  them  all  a  great 
knife  that  the  white  chief  had  given  him, 
in  exchange  for  a  sealskin,  and  two  steel 
needles  that  he  had  sent  to  Koolee.  Koolee 
kept  the  needles  in  a  little  ivory  case  all  by 
themselves. 

She  always  carried  the  case  in  her  ka- 
mik,  so  it  would  not  be  lost.  She  could 
do  wonderful  sewing  with  the  needles. 
Koolee  was  very  proud  of  her  sewing.   No 

99 


one  else  in  the  whole  village  could  sew  so 
well,  because  they  had  not  such  good 
needles  to  do  it  with.  Koolee  used  them 
only  for  her  very  finest  work. 

At  last  the  Angakok  said,  ''It  is  time  to 
go  home."  He  called  to  his  wives.  They 
climbed  down  off  the  bench. 

That  started  the  others.  One  after  an- 
other they  put  on  their  upper  garments, 
which  they  had  taken  off  in  the  warm  ig- 
loo, said  good-bye,  and  popped  down  into 
the  tunnel.  Last  of  all  came  the  Anga- 
kok's  turn. 

Then  Kesshoo  and  Koolee  and  the 
Angakok' s  wives  all  began  to  look  very 
anxious.  The  Angakok  looked  a  little  wor- 
ried himself  If  he  had  stuck  coming  in, 
what  would  happen  now  after  he  had  eaten 
so  much ! 

He  got  down  on  his  hands  and  knees, 
and  looked  at  the  hole.  He  had  taken  off 
his  thick  fur  coat  when  he  came  in.  Now 
he  took  off  his  undercoat,  and  his  thick  fur 
trousers!     He   gave   them   to    his   wives. 

lOI 


Then  he  stretched  himself  out  just  as  long 
as  he  possibly  could  and  slowly  hitched 
himself  down  into  the  tunnel,  groaning  all 
the  way. 

Kesshoo  and  Koolee  and  the  wives 
waited  until  his  feet  disappeared,  and  they 
heard  him  scraping  along  through  the  tun- 
nel. Then  they  breathed  a  great  sigh  of 
relief,  and  the  two  wives  popped  down 
after  him. 

The  last  Kesshoo  and  Koolee  heard  of 
the  Angakok,  was  a  kind  of  muffled  roar 
when  a  piece  of  ice  fell  from  the  top  of  the 
tunnel  on  to  his  bare  back. 

Menie  and  Monnie  and  the  pups  were 
already  sound  asleep  in  their  corner  of  the 
bench  when  their  father  and  mother  fixed 
the  lamp  for  the  night  and  crawled  in 
among  the  fur  robes  beside  them. 


VI 
THE  REINDEER  HUNT 


^     ~y 


VI 

THE  REINDEER  HUNT 

I 

The  day  after  the  feast  it  was  still  very 
cold,  but  there  were  signs  of  spring  in  the 
air.  When  Menie  went  out  to  feed  the 
dogs,  he  saw  a  flock  of  ravens  flying  north, 
and  Koko  saw  some  sea-birds  on  the  same 
day. 

Two  days  after  that,  when  the  twins  and 
Koko  were  all  three  playing  together  on 
the  Big  Rock,  they  saw  a  huge  iceberg 
float  lazily  by. 

It  had  broken  away  from  a  glacier,  far- 
ther north,  and  was  drifting  slowly  toward 
the  Southern  Sea.  It  gleamed  in  the  sun 
like  a  great  ice  palace. 

One  morning  the  air  was  thick  with  fog. 
When  Kesshoo  saw  the  fog  he  said,  ''This 
would  be  a  great  day  to  hunt  reindeer." 


**  Oh,  let  me  go  with  you  I  "  cried  Menie. 

Monnie  knew  better  than  to  ask.  She 
knew  very  well  she  would  never  be  allowed 
to  go. 

Kesshoo  thought  a  little  before  he  an- 
swered. Then  he  said,  **  If  Koko's  father 
will  go,  too,  you  and  Koko  may  both  go 
with  us.  You  are  pretty  small  to  go  hunt- 
ing, but  boys  cannot  begin  too  early  to 
learn." 

Menie  was  wild  with  joy.  He  rushed 
to  Koko's  house  and  told  him  and  his  father 
what  Kesshoo  had  said. 

When  he  had  finished,  Koko's  father  said 
at  once,  "Tell  Kesshoo  we  will  go." 

It  was  not  long  before  they  were  ready 
to  start.  Kesshoo  had  his  great  bow,  and 
arrows,  and  a  spear.  He  also  had  his  bird- 
dart.  Koko's  father  had  his  bow  and  spear 
and  dart,  too.  Menie  had  his  little  bow  and 
arrows. 

Kesshoo  put  a  harness  on  Tooky  and 
tied  the  end  of  Tooky's  harness  trace 
around  Menie's  waist.    Koko's  father  had 

1 06 


brought  his  best  dog,  too,  and  Koko  was 
fastened  to  the  end  of  that  dog's  harness 
in  the  same  way. 

Then  the  four  hunters  started  on  their 
journey,  —  Menie  and  Koko  driving  the 
dogs  in  front  of  them. 

Monnie  stood  on  the  Big  Rock  and 
watched  them  until  they  were  out  of  sight 
in  the  fog.  Nip  and  Tup  were  with  her. 
They  wanted  to  go  as  much  as  Monnie 

107 


did,  and  she  had  hard  work  to  keep  them 
from  following  after  the  hunters. 

II 

Kesshoo  knew  very  well  where  to  look 
for  the  reindeer.  He  led  the  way  up  a  steep 
gorge  where  the  first  green  moss  appeared 
in  the  spring.  They  all  four  walked  quietly 
along  for  several  miles. 

When  they  got  nearly  to  the  head  of  the 
gorge,  Kesshoo  stopped..  He  said  to  the 
boys,  **You  must  not  make  any  noise 
yourselves,  and  you  must  not  let  the  dogs 
bark.  If  you  do  there  will  be  no  reindeer 
to-day." 

The  boys  kept  very  still,  indeed.  The 
dogs  were  good  hunting-dogs.  They  knew 
better  than  to  bark. 

They  walked  on  a  little  farther.  Then 
Kesshoo  came  very  near  the  others  and 
spoke  in  a  low  voice.  He  said,  ''We  are 
coming  to  a  spot  where  there  are  likely  to 
be  reindeer.  The  wind  is  from  the  south. 
If  we  keep  on  in  this  direction,  the  reindeer 

io8 


will  smell  us.  We  must  go  round  in  such  a 
way  that  the  wind  will  carry  the  scent  from 
them  to  us,  not  from  us  to  them." 

They  turned  to  the  right  and  went  round 
to  the  north.  They  had  gone  only  a  short 
distance  in  this  direction,  when  they  found 
fresh  reindeer  -  tracks  in  the  snow.  The 
dogs  began  to  sniff  and  strain  at  their 
harnesses. 

**  They  smell  the  game,"  whispered  Kes- 
shoo.  ''  Hold  on  tight !  Don't  let  them  run." 

Menie  and  Koko  held  the  dogs  back  as 
hard  as  they  could.  Kesshoo  and  Koko's 
father  crept  forward  with  their  bows   in 

109 


their  hands.  The  fog  was  so  thick  they 
could  not  see  very  far  before  them. 

They  had  gone  only  a  short  distance, 
when  out  of  the  fog  loomed  two  great  gray 
shadows.  Instantly  the  two  men  dropped 
on  their  knees  and  took  careful  aim. 

The  reindeer  did  not  see  them.  They  did 
not  know  that  anything  was  near  until  they 
felt  the  sting  of  the  hunters'  arrows.  One 
reindeer  dropped  to  the  earth.  The  other 
was  not  killed.  He  flung  his  head  in  the 
air  and  galloped  away,  and  they  could  hear 
the  thud,  thud,  of  his  hoofs  long  after  he 
had  disappeared  in  the  fog. 

Ill 

The  moment  the  dogs  heard  the  singing 
sound  of  the  arrows,  they  bounded  forward. 
Koko  and  Menie  were  not  strong  enough 
to  hold  them  back,  and  they  could  not  run 
fast  enough  to  keep  up  with  them.  So  they 
just  bumped  along  behind  the  dogs  I  Some 
of  the  time  they  slid  through  the  snow. 

The  snow  was  rough  and  hard,  and  it 
no 


i.,^»K;r-' 


hurt  a  good  deal  to  be  dragged  through  it 
as  if  they  were  sledges,  but  Eskimo,  boys 
are  used  to  bumps,  and  they  knew  if  they 
cried  they  might  scare  the  game,  so  they 
never  even  whimpered. 

It  was  lucky  for  them  that  they  had  not 
far  to  go.  When  they  came  bumping  along, 
Kesshoo  and  Koko's  father  laughed  at  them. 


Ill 


**  Don't  be  in  such  a  hurry,"  they  called. 
**  There  's  plenty  of  time  !" 

They  unbound  the  traces  from  Menie  and 
Koko  and  hitched  the  dogs  to  the  body 
of  the  reindeer.  Then  they  all  started  back 
to  the  village  with  Koko's  father  driving 
the  dogs. 

Soon  the  fog  lifted  and  the  sky  grew  clear. 

Monnie  was  playing  with  her  doll  in  the 
igloo,  when  she  heard  Tooky  bark.  She 
knew  it  was  Tooky  at  once.  She  and  Koo- 
lee  both  plunged  into  the  tunnel  like  mice 
down  a  mouse-hole.  Nip  and  Tup  were 
ahead  of  them. 

Outside  they  found  Koko's  mother  and 
the  baby.  Koolee  called  to  her,  and  she 
called  to  the  wives  of  the  Angakok,  who 
were  scraping  a  bear's  skin  in  the  snow. 

The  Angakok's  wives,  and  Koko's  mo- 
ther and  her  baby,  and  Koolee,  and  Mon- 
nie, and  Nip  and  Tup  all  ran  to  meet  the 
hunters,  and  you  never  saw  two  prouder 
boys  than  Koko  and  Menie  when  they 
showed  the  reindeer  to  their  mothers. 

112 


The  mothers  were  proud  of  their  young 
hunters,  too.  Koolee  said,  ''  Soon  we  shall 
have  another  man  in  our  family." 

When  they  were  quite  near  the  village 
again,  they  met  the  Angakok.  He  had  been 
trying  to  catch  up  with  them  and  he  was 
out  of  breath  from  running.  He  looked  at 
them  sternly. 

**  Why  did  n't  you  call  me  ?  "  he  panted. 
113 


His  wives  looked  frightened  and  did  n't 
say  a  word.  Nobody  else  said  anything.  The 
Angakok  glared  at  them  all  for  a  moment. 
Then  he  poked  the  reindeer  with  his  fingers 
to  see  if  it  was  fat  and  said  to  the  men, 
"  Which  portion  am  I  to  have?  " 

'*  Would  you  like  the  liver  ?"  asked  Kes- 
shoo.  He  remembered  about  the  bear's 
liver,  you  see. 

But  the  Angakok  looked  offended.  * '  Who 
will  have  the  stomach?"  he  said.  **You 
know  very  well  that  the  stomach  is  the  best 
part  of  a  reindeer." 

*'Take  the  stomach,  by  all  means,  then," 
said  Kesshoo,  politely. 

Koolee  and  Monnie  looked  very  much 
disappointed.  They  wanted  the  stomach 
dreadfully. 

But  the  Angakok  answered,  ''  Since  you 
urge  me,  I  will  take  the  stomach.  I  had  a 
dream  last  night,  and  in  the  dream  I  was 
told  by  my  Tornak  that  to-day  I  should 
feed  upon  a  reindeer's  stomach,  given  me 
by  one  of  my  grateful  children.  When  you 

114 


think  how  I  suffered  to  bring  food  to  you, 
I  am  sure  you  will  wish  to  provide  me  with 
whatever  it  seems  best  that  I  should  have." 
He  stood  by  while  Kesshoo  and  Koko's 
father  skinned  the  reindeer  and  cut  it  in 
pieces.  Then  he  took  the  stomach  and  dis- 
appeared into  his  igloo  —  with  his  face  all 
wreathed  in  smiles. 


^-S^.^ 


VII 

WHAT  HAPPENED 

WHEN  MENIE  AND  KOKO 

WENT  HUNTING  BY 

THEMSELVES 


VII 

WHAT  HAPPENED 

WHEN  MENIE  AND  KOKO 

WENT  HUNTING  BY 

THEMSELVES 


It  was  very  lucky  for  the  twins  that  their 
father  was  such  a  brave  and  skillful  kyak 
man.  You  will  see  the  reason  why,  when 
I  tell  you  the  story  of  the  day  Menie  and 
Koko  went  hunting  alone  on  the  ice. 

One  April  morning  Kesshoo  was  work- 
ing on  his  kyak  to  make  sure  that  it  was 
in  perfect  order  for  the  spring  walrus- 
hunting.  Koko  and  Menie  watched  him 
for  a  long  time.  Monnie  was  with  Koolee 
in  the  hut.    . 

By  and  by  Koko  said  to  Menie,  ''  Let's 
go  out  on  the  ice  and  hunt  for  seal-holes." 

119 


**A11  right,"  said  Menie.  '*  You  take  your 
bow  and  arrows  and  I  '11  take  my  spear. 
Maybe  we  shall  see  some  little  auks." 

Koko  had  a  little  bow  made  of  deer's 
horns,  and  some  bone  arrows,  and  Menie 
had  a  small  spear  which  his  father  had 
made  for  him  out  of  driftwood. 

**ril  tell  you!"  said  Menie.  '*  Let's  go 
hunting  just  the  way  father  does  !  You  do 
the  shooting  and  I  '11  do  the  spearing! 
Won't  everybody  be  surprised  to  see  us 
bring  home  a  great  load  of  game?  I  shall 
give  everything  I  get  to  my  mother." 

'*I  'm  going  to  hunt  birds  and  seal-holes 
too,"  Koko  answered. 

Kesshoo  was  very  busy  fixing  the  fas- 
tening of  his  harpoon,  and  he  did  not  hear 
what  they  said. 

The  two  boys  went  to  their  homes  for 
their  weapons,  and  then  ran  out  on  the  ice. 
Nobody  knew  where  they  were.  Of  course, 
Nip  and  Tup  went  along. 


1 20 


II 

All  the  way  over  the  ice  they  looked  for 
seal-holes.  It  takes  sharp  eyes  to  find  them, 
for  seal-holes  are  very  small. 

You  see,  the  mother  seals  try  to  find  the 
safest  place  they  can  to  hide  their  babies, 
^d  this  is  the  way  they  do  it :  — 

As  soon  as  the  ice  begins  to  freeze  in 
^toe  autumn,  the  seals  gnaw  holes  in  it  to 
Ireach  the  air,  and  they  keep  these  holes 
topen  all  winter.  It  freezes  so  fast  in  that 
cold  country  that  they  have  to  be  busy  al- 
most every  minute  all  through  the  winter 
breaking  away  the  ice  there.  They  get 
their  sleep  in  snatches  of  a  minute  or  so  at 
a  time,  and  between  their  naps  they  clear 
the  ice  from  their  breathing-holes. 

121 


There  is  usually  a  deep  layer  of  snow 
over  the  ice.  Each  mother  seal  hollows  out 
a  little  igloo  under  the  snow,  around  her 
breathing-hole,  and  leaves  a  tiny  hole  in 
the  top  of  it,  so  her  baby  can  have  plenty 
of  fresh  air  and  be  hidden  from  sight  at  the 
same  time. 

The  mother  seal  leaves  the  baby  in 
the  snow  house,  and  she  herself  dives 
through  the  hole  and  swims  away.  Every 
few  minutes  she  comes  back  to  breathe, 
and  to  see  that  her  baby  is  safe. 

It  was  the  tiny  hole  in  the  top  of  the 
seal's  snow  house  that  Menie  and  Koko 
hoped  to  find. 

The  days  had  grown  quite  long  by  this 
time  and  there  was  fog  in  the  air.  Once  in 
a  while  there  would  be  a  loud  crackling 
noise. 

''The  ice  is  beginning  to  break,"  Koko 
said.  "Don't  you  hear  it  pop?  My  father 
says  he  thinks  the  warm  weather  will  be- 
gin early  this  year." 

They  had  gone  some  distance  out  on  the 

122 


ice,  when  suddenly  Menie  said,  '*Look! 
Look  there!"  He  pointed  toward  the  north. 
There  not  far  from  shore  was  a  flock  of  sea- 
birds,  resting  on  the  ice. 

''Just  let  me  get  a  shot  at  them ! "  cried 
Koko.  ''  You  stay  here  and  hold  on  to  the 
dogs!  Nip  and  Tup  have  n't  any  sense 
at  all  about  game !  They  '11  only  scare 
them." 

123 


Ill 

Koko  ran  swiftly  and  quietly  towards  the 
birds.  Menie  sat  on  the  ice  and  watched 
him  and  held  Nip  and  Tup,  one  under  each 
arm.  When  Koko  got  quite  near  the  birds, 
he  took  careful  aim  and  let  fly  an  arrow  at 
them. 

It  did  n't  hit  any  of  the  birds,  but  it  fright- 
ened them.  They  flew  up  into  the  air  and 
away  to  the  north  and  alighted  farther  on. 
Koko  followed  them. 

All  at  once  Menie  heard  a  queer  little 
sound.  It  went  ** Plop-plop-plop,"  and  it 
sounded  very  near.    Nip  and  Tup  sniffed, 

124 


and  began  to  growl  and  nose  around  on 
the  ice. 

Menie  knew  what  the  queer  noise  meant, 
for  his  father  had  told  him  all  about  seal- 
hunting.  It  meant  that  a  seal -hole  was 
near,  and  that  a  seal  had  come  up  to  breathe. 
It  was  the  seal  that  made  the  ''plopping" 
noise. 

Menie  tried  to  keep  the  dogs  still,  but 
they  would  n't  be  kept  still.  They  ran 
round  with  their  noses  on  the  snow,  giv- 
ing little  anxious  whines,  and  short,  sharp 
barks. 

The  ''plop-plop"  stopped.  The  seal  had 
gone  down  under  the  ice,  but  Menie  meant 
to  find  the  hole.  He  went  out  quite  near 
the  open  water  in  his  search.  At  last,  just 
beyond  a  hummock  of  ice,  he  saw  it  1  He 
crept  carefully  up  to  it. 

He  lay  down  on  his  stomach  and  peeped 
into  the  hole  to  see  what  it  was  like.  He 
could  not  see  a  thing ! 

Then  he  stuck  his  lance  down.  His  lance 
touched  something  soft  that  wiggled !  Me- 


"^'j'^^y^.t,,,  -    '' 


nie  stood  up.  He  was  so  excited  that  he 
trembled.  He  knew  he  had  found  a  seal- 
hole  with  a  live  seal  in  the  snow  house ! 

With  all  his  strength  he  struck  his  lance 
down  through  the  snow.  The  snow  house 
fell  in  and  Menie  fell  with  it,  but  he  kept 
hold  of  his  lance.  The  end  of  the  lance  was 
buried  in  the  snow,  but  it  was  moving.  Me- 
ni£  knew  by  this  that  he  had  stuck  it  into 
the  seal ! 

He  lay  still  and  kept  fast  hold  of  his 
lance,  and  pressed  down  on  it  with  all  his 
might. 

Nip  and  Tup  were  crazy  with  excitement. 
They  jumped  round  and  barked  and  tried 

126 


to  dig  a  hole  in  the  snow  with  their  fore 
feet. 

At  last  the  spear  stopped  wiggling.  Then 
Menie  carefully  dug  the  snow  away.  There 
lay  a  little  white  seal !  It  was  too  young  to 
swim  away  with  its  mother.  That  was  why 
such  a  small  boy  as  Menie  had  been  able 
to  kill  it. 

He  dragged  it  out  on  the  ice.  He  was  so 
excited  and  so  busy  he  did  not  notice  how 
near  he  was  to  the  open  water. 

IV 

All  of  a  sudden  there  was  a  loud  crack- 
ing noise,  and  Menie  felt  the  ice  moving 
under  him !  He  looked  back.  There  was  a 
tiny  strip  of  blue  water  between  him  and 
the  shore ! 

The  strip  grew  wider  while  he  looked  at 
it!  Menie  knew  that  he  was  adrift  on  an 
ice  raft,  and  he  was  terribly  frightened.  Nip 
and  Tup  cuddled  close  to  him  and  whined 
with  fear. 

Menie  understood  perfectly  well  that  he 
127 


might  be  carried  far  out  to  sea  and  never 
come  back  any  more.  He  put  his  hands  to 
his  mouth  and  yelled  with  all  his  might ! 

Koko  was  still  following  the  birds,  and 
did  not  hear  Menie's  cries.  Menie  could  see 
him  running  up  the  beach  after  the  birds, 
and  he  could  see  his  father  working  over 
his  kyak  near  his  home. 

He  even  saw  Monnie  come  out  of  the 
tunnel  and  go  to  watch  her  father  at  his 
work.    They  seemed  very  far  away,  and 


every  moment  the  distance  between  them 
and  the  raft  grew  greater. 

Menie  screamed  again  and  again.  At  the 
third  scream  he  saw  his  father  straighten 
up,  shade  his  eyes  with  his  hand,  and  look 
out  to  sea. 

**0h,"  Menie  thought.  **What  if  he 
should  n't  see  me ! "  He  shouted  louder  than 
ever !  He  waved  his  arms !  He  even  pinched 
the  tails  of  Nip  and  Tup  and  made  them 
bark.  Then  he  saw  his  father  wave  his  hand 
and  dive  into  the  tunnel. 

In  another  instant  he  was  out  again  and 
pulling  on  his  skin  coat.  Then  he  took  the 
kyak  on  his  shoulders  and  ran  with  it  to 
the  beach.  Monnie  and  Koolee  came  run- 
ning after  him. 

They  were  doing  the  screaming  i)ow! 
Every  one  in  the  village  heard  the  screams 
and  came  running  down  to  the  beach,  too. 

When  Menie  saw  his  father  coming  with 
the  kyak,  he  was  n't  afraid  any  more,  for 
he  was  sure  his  father  would  save  him.  He 
was  n't  even  afraid  about  the  cakes  of  ice 

129 


that  were  floating  in  the  water,  though  there 
is  nothing  more  dangerous  than  to  go  out 
in  a  kyak  among  ice-floes.  One  bump  from 
a  floating  cake  of  ice  is  enough  to  upset 
any  boat,  and  I  don't  Hke  to  think  of  what 
might  happen  if  a  kyak  should  get  between 
two  big  cakes  of  ice. 

Kesshoo  ran  with  his  kyak  as  far  as  he 
could  on  the  ice.  Then  he  got  in  and  fitted 
the  bottom  of  his  skin  jacket  over  the  kyak- 
hole  and  carefully  slid  himself  into  the  open 
water. 

Once  in  the  water,  how  his  paddle  flew ! 

It  seemed  to  Menie  as  if  his  father  would 
never  reach  him !  He  sat  very  still  on  the 
ice-pan  with  the  dead  seal  beside  him,  and 
Nip  and  Tup  huddled  up  against  him. 

At  last  Kesshoo  came  near  enough  so  he 
could  make  Menie  hear  everything  he  said. 
"  Menie,"  he  cried,  ''  if  you  do  exactly  what 
I  tell  you  to,  I  can  save  you. 

"  I  will  throw  you  my  harpoon.  You 
must  drive  it  way  down  into  the  ice.  Then 
by  the  harpoon-line  I  will  tow  your  ice-pan 

130 


---^^^^^^^i^fe^ 


back  toward  shore.  When  we  get  to  the  big 
ice  I  will  find  a  place  for  you  to  land. 

*'  You  must  be  ready,  and  when  I  give  the 
word  jump  from  your  ice  raft  on  to  the  solid 
ice." 

Then  Kesshoo  threw  his  harpoon,  and 
Menie  drove  it  into  the  ice  with  all  his  might. 
Slowly  Kesshoo  drew  the  line  taut,  turned 
his  kyak  round,  and  started  for  the  shore. 

The  journey  out  had  been  dangerous,  but 
131 


the  journey  back  was  much  more  so,  for 
Kesshoo  could  not  dodge  the  floating  ice 
nearly  so  well.  He  had  to  pick  his  way  care- 
fully through  the  clearest  water  he  could  find. 
Very  cautiously  they  moved  toward  shore. 


They  were  getting  quite  near  the  place 
where  the  ice  had  broken  with  Menie,  when 
suddenly,  right  near  them,  they  saw  the 
head  and  great,  round  eyes  of  a  seal !  It  was 
the  seal  mother. 

She  had  come  back  to  find  her  breathing- 
hole  and  her  baby. 

The  moment  Kesshoo  saw  her  he  seized 
his  dart,  which  lay  in  its  place  on  top  of  his 
kyak,  and  threw  it  with  all  his  might  at  the 
seal. 

The  seal  dived  down  into  the  sea,  but  a 
bladder  full  of  air  was  attached  to  the  line 
on  the  dart,  and  this  bladder  floated  on  the 
wafer,  so  Kesshoo  could  tell  by  watching 
it  just  where  the  seal  was. 

Kesshoo  knew  he  had  struck  the  seal,  and 
132 


"— «ie-- ^ . 


although  he  was  already  towing  the  ice  raft, 
he  was  determined  to  bring  home  the  big 
seal,  too  I 

He  called  to  Menie.  **Sit  still  and  wait 
until  I  come  for  you." 

Then  he  quickly  cut  the  harpoon-line  by 
which  he  was  towing  the  ice  raft,  and  set 
it  adrift  again.  As  soon  as  he  was  free  he 
paddled  away  after  the  bladder,  which  was 
now  bobbing  along  over  the  water  at  some 
little  distance  from  the  boat. 

Menie  sat  perfectly  still  -and  watched  his 
father.  Kesshoo  reached  the  bladder  and 
began  to  pull  on  the  line,  but  just  at  that 

^33 


moment  the  big  seal  turned  round  and  swam 
right  under  the  kyak ! 

In  a  second  the  kyak  turned  bottom  side 
up  in  the  water!  Menie  screamed.  The 
people  watching  on  the  shore  gave  a  great 
howl,  and  Koko's  father  started  up  the 
beach  after  his  own  kyak. 

He  thought  perhaps  Kesshoo  could  not 
manage  both  the  ice  raft  and  the  seal,  and 
he  meant  to  go  to  help  him. 

But  in  one  second  Kesshoo  was  right 
side  up  again.  No  water  could  get  into  the 
kyak  because  Kesshoo' s  skin  coat  was 
drawn  tight  over  the  hole  in  the  deck,  and 
Kesshoo  was  in  the  coat! 

Kesshoo  often  turned  somersaults  in  the 
water  in  that  way.  Sometimes  he  even  did 
it  for  fun  !  He  said  afterward  that  he  could 
have  turned  the  boat  right  side  up  again 
with  just  his  nose  —  without  using  either 
his  paddle  or  his  arms — if  only  his  nose 
had  been  a  little  bigger,  and  though  he 
meant  this  for  a  joke,  the  twins  believed 
that  he  really  could  do  it. 

134 


VI 

The  moment  he  was  right  side  up  again, 
Kesshoo  gave  chase  once  more  to  the  blad- 
der. The  seal  was  very  weak  now,  and 
Kesshoo  knew  that  it  would  soon  come  to 
the  surface  and  float  and  that  then  he  could 
tow  it  in. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait.  The  bladder 
bobbed  about  for  a  while  and  then  was 
still.  Kesshoo  drew  up  the  Hne,  and  pad- 
dled back  to  the  ice  raft,  towing  the  big 
seal  after  him. 

** Catch  this,"  he  said  to  Menie.  He 
threw  him  the  end  of  the  line.  ''Wind  the 
line  six  times  round  the  harpoon,"  he  said, 
''  and  hold  tight  to  the  end  of  it." 

Menie  did  as  he  was  told.  Then  Kes- 
shoo tied  together  the  two  ends  of  the  har- 
poon-line, which  he  had  cut,  and  began  to 
tow  the  ice  raft  back  to  shore  again. 

Menie  kept  tight  hold  of  the  other  line 
and  towed  the  seal ! 

Kesshoo  paddled  slowly  and  carefully 
135 


along,  until  at  last  there  was  only  a  little 
strip  of  water  between  the  kyak  and  the 
solid  ice. 

But  how  in  the  world  could  Menie  get 
across  that  strip  of  water  to  safety? 

The  kyak  was  between  him  and  the 
solid  ice,  and  Menie  could  not  possibly  get 
into  the  kyak.  Neither  could  he  swim.  But 
Kesshoo  knew  a  way. 

He  came  up  closer  to  the  solid  ice.  Then 
he  gave  a  great  sweep  with  his  paddle  and 
lifted  his  kyak  right  up  on  to  it.  He  sprang 
out,  and,  seizing  the  harpoon-line,  pulled 
Menie's  raft  close  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
firm  ice. 

Menie  was  still  holding  tight  to  the  line 
that  held  the  big  seal.  Kesshoo  threw  him 
another  line.    Menie  caught  the  end  of  it. 

**  Now  tie  the  big  seal's  line  fast  to  that," 
Kesshoo  said.  Menie  was  a  very  small 
boy,  but  he  knew  how  to  tie  knots.  He  did 
just  what  his  father  told  him  to. 

"Now,"  said  his  father,  ''pull  up  the 
harpoon."  Menie  did  so.  *' Tie  the  harpoon- 

1,^6 


5:/  ^^fb'-'^^ 


line  to  the  little  seal," — Menie  did  that 
**Now  throw  the  harpoon  to  me,"  com- 
manded Kesshoo. 

Menie  threw  it  with  all  his  might.  His 
father  caught  it,  and  stood  on  the  firm  ice, 
holding  in  his  hands  the  line  that  the  big 
seal  was  tied  to,  and  the  harpoon,  with  its 
line  fastened  to  the  little  seal. 

"Now  hold  on  to  the  little  seal,  and  I  will 
pull  you  right  up  against  the  solid  ice,  and 
when  I  say  *Jump,'  you  jump,"  said  Kes- 
shoo. 

Slowly  and  very  carefully  he  pulled,  un- 
til the  raft  grated  against  the  solid  ice. 

'*Jumpl"  shouted  Kesshoo. 

Menie  jumped.  The  ice  raft  gave  a  lurch 
that  nearly  sent  him  into  the  water,  but 
Kesshoo  caught  him  and  pulled  him  to 
safety. 

A  great  shout  of  joy  went  up  from  the 
shore,  and  Menie  was  glad  enough  to 
shout  too  when  he  felt  solid  ice  under  his 
feet  once  more ! 

While  he  helped  his  father  pull  in  the 
138       . 


little  seal,  all  the  people  came  running  out 
on  to  the  ice  to  meet  them,  but  Kesshoo 
sent  back  every  one  except  Koko's  father. 
He  was  afraid  the  ice  might  break  again 
with  so  many  people  on  it.  Koko's  father 
helped  pull  the  big  seal  out  of  the  water 
and  over  the  ice  to  the  beach. 

Menie  dragged  his  own  little  seal  after 
him  by  the  harpoon-line,  and  when  he  came 
near  the  beach,  the  people  all  cried  out, 
*' See  the  great  hunter  with  his  game!" 
And  Koolee  was  so  glad  to  see  Menie  and 
so  proud  of  her  boy  that  she  nearly  burst 
with  joy ! 

**  I  knew  the  charm  would  work,"  she 
cried.  '*  Not  oftly  does  he  spy  bears,  — he 
kills  seals !  And  he  only  five  years  old !" 

She  put  her  arms  around  him  and  pressed 
her  flat  nose  to  his.  That 's  the  Eskimo  way 
of  kissing. 

Menie  tried  to  look  as  if  he  killed  seals 
and  got  carried  away  on  an  ice-pan  every 
day  in  the  week,  but  inside  he  felt  very 
proud,  too. 

139 


^^^ 


When  Kesshoo  and  Koko's  father  came 
up  with  the  big  seal,  Koolee  and  the  other 
women  dragged  it  to  the  village,  where  it 
was  skinned  and  cut  up.  Every  one  had  a 
piece  of  raw  blubber  to  eat  at  once,  and  the 
very  first  piece  went  to  Menie. 

While  they  were  eating  it,  Koko  came 
back.  He  had  gone  so  far  up  the  shore 
hunting  little  auks  that  he  had  n't  seen  a 
thing  that  had  happened.  And  he  had  n't 
killed  any  little  auks  either. 

Koko  felt  that  things  were  very  un- 
140 


equally  divided  in  this  world.  He  wanted 
to  kill  a  seal  and  get  lost  on  a  raft  and  be 
a  hero  too. 

But  Koolee  gave  him  a  large  piece  of 
blubber,  and  that  made  him  feel  much 
more  cheerful  again.  He  just  said  to  Mon- 
nie,  ''  If  I  had  been  with  Menie,  this  never 
would  have  happened !  I  should  not  have 
let  him  get  •  so  near  the  edge  of  the  ice  ! 
But  then,  you  know,  I  am  six,  and  he  is 
only  five,  so,  of  course,  he  did  n't  know  any 
better." 

141 


Everybody  in  the  village  had  seal-meat 
that  night,  and  the  Angakok  had  the  head, 
which  they  all  thought  was  the  best  part. 
He  said  he  did  n't  feel  very  well,  and  his 
Tornak  had  told  him  nothing  would  cure 
him  so  quickly  as  a  seal's  head.  So  Koolee 
gave  it  to  him. 

The  skin  of  the  little  white  seal  Koolee 
saved  and  dressed  very  carefully.  She 
chewed  it,  all  over,  on  the  wrong  side,  and 
sucked  out  all  the  blubber,  and  made  it 
soft  and  fine  as  velvet ;  and  when  that  was 
done,  she  made  out  of  it  two  beautiful  pairs 
of  white  mittens  for  the  twins. 


VIII 
THE  WOMAN-BOATS 


VIII 
THE  WOMAN-BOATS 


During  the  long,  dark  hours  of  the  winter 
Kesshoo  found  many  pleasant  things  to  do 
at  home.  He  was  always  busy.  He  carved 
a  doll  for  Monnie  out  of  the  ivory  tusk  of 
a  walrus. 

Monnie  named  the  doll  Annadore,  and 
she  loved  it  dearly.  Koolee  dressed  Anna- 
dore in  fur,  with  tiny  kamiks  of  sealskin, 
and  Monnie  carried  her  doll  in  her  hood, 
just  the  way  Koko's  mother  carried  her 
baby. 

For  Menie,  his  father  made  dog-harr 
nesses  out  of  walrus-hide.  He  made  them 
just  the  right  size  for  Nip  and  Tup. 

Menie  harnessed  the  little  dogs  to  his 
sled.  Then  he  and  Monnie  would  play 
sledge-journeys.  Annadore  would  sit  on  the 

H5 


sled  all  wrapped  in  furs,  while  Menie  drove 
the  dogs,  and  Monnie  followed  after. 

Nip  and  Tup  did  not  like  this  play  very 
well,  and  they  did  n't  always  go  where  they 
were  told  to.  Once  they  dashed  right  over 
the  igloo  and  spilled  Annadore  off. 

Annadore  rolled  down  one  side  of  the 
igloo,  while  Nip  and  Tup  galloped  down 
the  other.  Annadore  was  buried  in  the  snow 
and  had  to  be  dug  out,  so  it  was  quite  a 
serious  accident,  you  see,  but  Nip  and  Tup 
did  not  seem  to  feel  at  all  responsible  about  it. 

Kesshoo  made  knives  and  queer  spoons 
out  of  bone  or  ivory  for  Koolee,  and  for 
himself  he  made  new  barbs  for  his  bladder- 
dart,  new  bone  hooks  for  fishlines,  and  all 
sorts  of  things  for  hunting. 

He  made  salmon-spears,  and  bird-darts, 
and  fishlines,  and  he  ornamented  his  weap- 
ons with  little  pictures  or  patterns.  He 
carved  two  frogs  on  the  handle  of  his  snow- 
knife,  and  scratched  the  picture  of  a  walrus 
on  the  blade. 

Sometimes  Koolee  carved  things,  too, 
146 


but  most  of  the  time  she  was  busy  making 
coats  or  kamiks,  or  chewing  skins  to  make 
them  soft  and  fine  for  use  in  the  igloo,  or 
to  cover  the  kyaks,  or  to  make  their  sum- 
mer tent. 

Once  during  tne  winter  the  whole  family 
went  thirty  miles  up  the  coast  by  moon- 
light to  visit  Koolee's  brother  in  another 
village.  They  went  with  the  dog-sledge,  and 
it  took  them  two  days. 

They  had  meat  and  blubber  with  them 
and  plenty  of  warm  skins,  and  when  they 
got  tired,  Kesshoo  made  a  snow  house  for 
them  to  rest  in.  The  twins  thought  this  was 
the  best  fun  of  all. 

II 

When  spring  came  on,  there  were  other 
things  to  do.  As  the  days  grew  longer,  the 
ice  in  the  bay  cracked  and  broke  into  small 
pieces  and  floated  away. 

The  waters  turned  deep  blue,  and  danced 
in  the  sunlight,  and  ice  floated  about  in  it. 
Often  there  were  walrus  on  these  ice-pans. 

H7 


^'^m*^^^^^^^ 


The  twins  sometimes  saw  their  huge 
black  bodies  on  the  white  ice,  and  heard 
their  hoarse  barks.  Then  all  the  men  in  the 
village  would  rush  for  their  kyaks  and  set 
out  after  the  walrus. 

The  men  were  brave  and  enjoyed  the 
dangerous  sport,  but  the  women  used  to 
watch  anxiously  until  they  saw  the  kyaks 
coming  home  towing  the  walrus  behind 
them. 

Then  they  would  rush  down  to  the  shore, 
help  pull  the  kyaks  up  on  to  the   beach, 

148 


where  they  cut  the  walrus  in  pieces  and  di- 
vided it  among  the  famihes  of  the  hunters. 

When  the  snow  had  melted  on  the  Big 
Rock,  hundreds  of  sea-birds  made  their 
nests  there  and  filled  the  air  with  their  cries. 

Sometimes  Kesshoo  went  egg-hunting  on 
the  cliff,  and  sometimes  he  set  traps  there 
for  foxes,  and  he  helped  Menie  and  Koko 
make  a  little  trap  to  catch  hares.  There  was 
plenty  to  do  in  every  season  of  the  year. 

At  last  the  nights  shortened  to  nothing 
at  all.  The  long  day  had  begun.  The  stone 
hut,  which  they  had  found  so  comfortable 
in  winter,  seemed  dark  and  damp  now. 

Menie  and  Monnie  remembered  the  sum- 
mer days  when  they  did  not  have  to  dive 
down  through  a  hole  to  get  into  their  house, 
so  Menie  said  to  Monnie  one  day,  ''  Let 's 
go  and  ask  father  if  it  is  n't  time  to  put  up 
the  tents." 

They  ran  out  to  find  him.  He  was  down 
on  the  beach  talking  with  Koko's  father  and 
the  other  men  of  the  village. 

On  the  beach  were  two  very  long  boats. 
149 


The  men  were  looking  them  over  carefully 
to  see  if  they  were  water-tight. 

Koko  was  with  the  men.  When  he  saw 
the  twins  coming,  he  tore  up  the  slope  to 
meet  them,  waving  his  arms  and  shouting, 
*' They 're  getting  out  the  woman-boats! 
They  're  getting  out  the  woman-boats !  " 

This  was  glorious  news  to  the  twins. 
They  ran  down  to  the  beach  with  Koko  as 
fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them. 

They  got  there  just  in  time  to  hear  Koko's 
ISO 


father  say  to  Kesshoo,  *'I  think  it's  safe  to 
start.  The  ice  is  pretty  well  out  of  the  bay, 
and  the  reindeer  will  be  coming  down  to  the 
fiords  after  fresh  moss." 

All  the  men  listened  to  hear  what  Kesshoo 
would  say,  and  the  twins  listened,  too,  with 
all  their  ears. 

*'  If  it 's  clear,  I  think  we  could  start  after 
one  more  sleep,"  said  Kesshoo.   . 

Ill 

The  twins  did  n't  wait  to  hear  any  more. 
They  flew  for  home,  and  dashed  down  the 
tunnel  and  up  into  the  room. 

Koolee  was  gathering  all  the  knives  and 
spoons  and  fishing- things  and  sewing- 
things,  and  dumping  them  into  a  large 
musk-ox  hide  which  was  spread  on  the 
floor. 

The  musk-ox  hide  covered  the  entrance- 
hole.  The  first  thing  Koolee  knew  some- 
thing thumped  the  musk-ox  skin  on  the 
under  side,  and  the  knives  and  thimbles  and 
needle-cases  and  other  things  flew  in  all 

151 


directions.  Up  through  the  hole  popped  the 
faces  of  Menie  and  Monnie  ! 

''Oh,  Mother,"  they  shouted.  ''We're 
going  off  on  the  woman-boats  !  After  only 
one  more  sleep,  if  it 's  pleasant !  Father  said 
so!" 

Koolee  laughed.  "  I  know  it !  "  she  said. 
*'  I  was  just  packing.  You  can  help  me. 
There 's  a  lot  to  do  to  get  ready." 

The  twins  were  delighted  to  help.  They 
got  together  all  their  own  treasures,  —  the 
sled,  and  the  fishing-rods,  the  dog-har- 
nesses, and  Annadore,  and  bound  them  up 
with  walrus  thongs.  All  but  Annadore.  An- 
nadore rode  in  Monnie's  hood  as  usual. 

Koolee  gathered  all  her  things  together 
again  and  wrapped  them  in  the  musk-ox 
hide.  She  took  down  the  long  narwhal 
tusks  that  the  dog-harnesses  were  hung  on. 

These  were  the  tent-poles.  She  and  the 
twins  carried  all  these  things  to  the  beach. 
The  men  stayed  on  the  beach  and  packed 
the  things  away  in  the  boats.  The  other 
women  brought  down  their  bundles  from 

152 


their  igloos.  There  was  room  for  every- 
thing in  the  two  big  boats. 

Only  the  skins  were  left  on  the  sleeping- 
bench  in  the  hut.  When  everything  else 
was  ready,  Koolee  and  the  twins  went  up 
on  top  of  the  igloo. 

They  pulled  the  moss  and  dirt  out  of  the 
chinks  between  the  stones  that  made  the 
roof,  and  then  Koolee  pulled  up  the  stones 
themselves  and  let  them  fall  over  to  one 
side.  This  left  the  roof  open  to  the  sky. 

153 


''What  makes  you  do  that?"  Menie 
asked. 

**  So  the  sun  and  rain  can  clean  house 
for  us,"  said  Koolee. 

Everybody  else  in  the  village  got  ready 
in  the  same  way. 

At  last  Kesshoo  came  up  from  the  beach 
and  said  to  Koolee,  ''  Let  us  have  some 
meat  and  a  sleep  and  then  we  will  start. 
Everything  is  ready.  The  boats  are  packed 
and  it  looks  as  if  the  weather  would  be 
clear." 

Koolee  brought  out  some  walrus-meat 
and  blubber  for  supper,  —  though  it  might 
just  as  well  be  called  breakfast,  for  there 
was  no  night  coming,  —  and  the  twins  ate 
theirs  sitting  on  the  roof  of  the  igloo  with 
their  feet  hanging  down  inside. 

Once  Menie's  feet  kicked  his  father's 
head.  It  was  an  accident,  but  Kesshoo 
reached  up  and  took  hold  of  Menie's  foot 
and  pulled  him  down  on  to  the  sleeping- 
bench  and  rolled  him  over  among  the  skins. 

**  Crawl  in  there  and  go  to  sleep,"  he  said. 
154 


Monnie  let  herself  down  through  the 
roof  by  her  hands  and  crept  in  beside 
Menie.  Then  Kesshoo  and  Koolee  wrapped 
themselves  in  the  warm  skins  and  lay  down, 
too. 

It  took  Menie  and  Monnie  some  time  to 
go  to  sleep,  for  they  could  look  straight  up 
through  the  roof  at  the  sky,  and  the  sky 
was  bright  and  blue  with  little  white  clouds 
sailing  over  it.  Besides,  they  were  think- 
ing about  the  wonderful  things  that  would 
happen  when  they  should  wake  up. 


IX 
THE  VOYAGE 


IX 
THE  VOYAGE 

I 

When  the  twins  awoke,  the  sun  was  shin- 
ing as  brightly  as  ever,  and  Nip  and  Tup 
were  barking  at  them  through  the  hole  in 
the  roof. 

Kesshoo  and  Koolee  were  gone ! 

Menie  and  Monnie  were  frightened.  They 
were  afraid  they  were  left  behind.  They  sat 
up  in  bed  and  howled! 

In  a  moment  Koolee's  face  looked  down 
at  them  through  the  roof. 

**  What 's  the  matter?"  she  said. 

**We  thought  we  were  left,"  wailed  Mon- 
nie ! 

"As  if  I  could  leave  you  behind!"  cried 
Koolee. 

She  laughed  at  them.  **  Hand  up  the 
skins  to  me,"  she  said.    She  reached  her 

IS9 


arm  down  the  hole  and  pulled  out  all  the 
skins  from  the  bed  as  fast  as  the  twins 
gave  them  to  her. 

Then  she  put  her  head  down  into  the 
opening  and  looked  all  around.  ''We  have 
n't  left  a  thing,"  she  said;  ''come  along." 

The  twins  could  n't  climb  out  through  the 
roof,  though  they  wanted  to,  so  they  went 
out  by  the  tunnel,  and  helped  their  mother 
carry  the  skins  to  the  beach. 

All  the  people  in  the  village  and  all  the 
dogs  were  there  before  them.  The  great 
woman-boats  were  packed,  the  kyaks  of 
the  men  waited  beside  them  in  a  row  on 
the  beach,  with  their  noses  in  the  water. 

The  dogs  barked  and  raced  up  and  down 
the  beach,  the  babies  crowed,  and  the  chil- 
dren shouted  for  joy.  Even  the  grown 
people  were  gay.  They  talked  in  loud 
tones  and  laughed  and  made  jokes. 

II 

At  last  Kesshoo  shouted,  "  All  ready !  In 
you  go  !  "  He  told  each  person  where  to  sit. 

1 60 


He  put  the  Angakok  in  one  boat  to  steer. 
He  put  Koko's  father  in  the  other. 

In  Koko's  father's  boat  he  placed  Koko 
and  his  mother  and  the  baby,  Koolee  and 
the  twins,  the  pups,  all  three  dogs,  and  four 
of  the  women  who  lived  in  the  other  igloos. 
So  you  see  it  was  quite  a  large  boat. 

In  the  Angakok's  boat  he  placed  his  two 
wives,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  women  and 
children  and  dogs.  The  women  took  up  the 
paddles.  One  end  of  the  boat  was  partly  in 

i6i 


the  water  when  they  got  in.  The  men  gently 
pushed  it  farther  out  until  it  floated. 

Then  the  men  got  into  their  kyaks  at  the 
water's  edge,  fastened  their  skin  coats  over 
the  rims,  and  paddled  out  into  deep  water. 

At  last,  when  all  the  boats,  big  and  little, 
were  afloat,  Kesshoo  called  out,  "We  are 
going  north.   Follow  me." 

The  women  obeyed  the  signal  of  Ko- 
ko's  father  and  the  Angakok.  The  paddles 
dipped  together  into  the  water.  The  great 
boats  moved  !  They  were  off ! 

The  children  all  sat  together  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  boat,  but  the  twins  and  Koko 
were  big  enough  to  see  over  the  sides. 
While  the  babies  played  with  the  dogs,  they 
were  busy  watching  the  things  that  passed 
on  the  shores.  Soon  they  passed  the  Big 
Rock  with  little  auks  and  puffins  flying  about 
it.  They  could  see  the  red  feet  of  the  puffins, 
and  a  blue  fox  sitting  on  the  top  of  the  rock, 
waiting  for  a  chance  to  catch  a  bird. 

Then  the  Big  Rock  hid  the  village  from 
sight. 

162 


Ill 

Beyond  the  Big  Rock  the  country  was 
all  new  to  the  twins  and  Koko.  They  looked 
into  narrow  bays  and  inlets  as  the  boat 
moved  along,  and  saw  green  moss  carpet- 
ing the  sunny  slopes  in  sheltered  places. 

They  could  even  see  bright  flowers  grow- 
ing in  the  warm  spots  which  faced  the  sun. 
The  sky  was  blue  overhead.  The  water  was 
blue  below. 

Beyond  the  green  slopes  they  could  see 
the  bare  hillsides  crowned  with  the  white 
ice-cap  which  never  melts,  and  streams  of 
water  dashing  down  the  hillsides  and  pour- 
ing themselves  into  the  waters  of  the  bay. 

When  they  had  gone  a  good  many  miles 
up  the  coast,  Kesshoo  waved  his  hand  and 
pointed  to  a  strange  sight  on  the  shore. 

There  was  a  great  river  of  ice !  They 
could  see  where  it  came  out  of  a  hollow 
place  between  two  hills.  It  looked  just  like 
a  river,  only  it  was  frozen  solid,  and  the  end 
of  it,  where  it  came  into  the  sea,  was  broken 

163 


off  like  a  great  wall  of  ice,  and  there  were 
cakes  of  ice  floating  about  in  the  water. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  cracking  sound. 
Menie  had  heard  that  sound  before.  It  was 
the  same  sound  that  he  had  heard  when  he 
went  seal-hole  hunting  and  got  carried  away 
on  the  ice  raft.  Menie  did  n't  like  the  sound 
any  more.   It  scared  him  ! 

Right  after  the  cracking  noise  Kesshoo^s 
voice  shouted,  ''Row  farther  out!  Follow 
me !  " 

He  turned  his  kyak  straight  out  to  sea. 
All  the  other  boats  followed. 

They  had  gone  only  about  half  a  mile 
when  suddenly  there  was  a  loud  cnck-crick- 
CRACK —  as  if  a  piece  of  the  world  had  bro- 
ken off,  and  then  there  was  a  splash  that 
could  be  heard  for  miles  —  if  there  had  been 
any  one  to  hear  it. 

The  end  of  the  glacier,  or  ice-river,  had 
broken  off  and  fallen  down  into  the  water ! 
It  had  made  an  iceberg ! 

The  splash  was  so  great  that  in  a  mo- 
ment the  waves  it  made  reached  the  boats. 

164 


The  boats  rocked  up  and  down  on  the 
water  and  bounced  about  Hke  corks. 

The  twins  and  Koko  thought  this  was 
great  fun,  but  the  Angakok  did  n't  Hke  it  a 
bit.  One  wave  splashed  over  him,  and  some 
of  the  water  went  down  his  neck. 

All  the  grown  people  knew  that  if  they 
had  n't  rowed  quickly  away  from  shore  when 
Kesshoo  called  they  might  have  been  upset 
and  drowned. 

IV 

When  the  waves  made  by  the  iceberg 
had  calmed  down  again,  Kesshoo  paddled 
round  among  the  boats. 

He  said,  '*  I  think  we  'd  better  land  about 
i6s 


a  mile  above  here.  There  *s  a  stream  there, 
and  perhaps  we  can  get  some  salmon  for 
our  dinner." 

He  led  the  way  in  his  kyak,  and  all  the 
other  boats  followed.  They  kept  out  of 
the  path  of  the  iceberg,  which  had  already 
floated  some  distance  from  the  shore,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  they  came  to  a  little  inlet. 

Kesshoo  paddled  into  it  and  up  to  the 
very  end  of  it,  where  a  beautiful  stream  of 
clear  water  came  dashing  down  over  the 
rocks  into  the  sea. 

The  hills  sloped  suddenly  down  to  the 
shore.  The  sun  shone  brightly  on  the  green 
slopes,  and  the  high  cliffs  behind  shut  off 
the  cold  north  winds.  It  was  a  little  piece 
of  summer  set  right  down  in  the  valley. 

**  Oh,  how  beautiful !"  everybody  cried. 

The  boats  were  soon  drawn  up  on  the 
beach,  the  women  and  children  tumbled  out, 
and  then  began  preparations  for  dinner. 

The  women  got  out  their  cooking-pots, 
and  Koolee  set  to  work  to  make  a  fireplace 
out  of  three  stones. 

1 66 


They  had  blubber  and  moss  with  them, 
but  how  could  they  get  a  fire  ?  They  had 
no  matches.  They  had  never  even  heard 
of  a  match. 

The  Angakok  sat  down  on  the  beach.  He 
had  some  little  pieces  of  dry  driftwood  and 
some  dried  moss. 

He  held  one  end  of  a  piece  of  driftwood 
in  a  sort  of  handle  which  he  pressed  against 
his  lips.  The  other  end  was  in  a  hollow 
spot  in  another  piece  of  wood. 

The  Angakok  rolled  one  driftwood  stick 
167 


4^' 


round  and  round  in  the  hollow  spot  of  the 
other.  He  did  this  by  means  of  a  bow  which 
he  pulled  from  one  side  to  the  other.  This 
made  the  stick  whirl  first  one  way,  then 
back  again.  Soon  a  little  smoke  came  cur- 
ling up  round  the  stick. 

Koolee  dropped  some  dried  moss  on  the 
smoking  spot.  Suddenly  there  was  a  little 
blaze ! 

i68 


She  fed  the  Httle  flame  with  more  moss, 
and  then  Hghted  the  moss  on  the  stones  of 
the  fireplace.  She  put  a  soapstone  kettle  filled 
with  water  over  the  fire,  and  soon  the  kettle 
was  boiling. 

While  all  this  was  going  on  down  on  the 
beach,  the  men  took  their  salmon  -  spears 
and  went  up  the  river,  and  Koko  and  the 
twins  went  with  them. 

The  wives  of  the  Angakok  went  to  find 
moss  to  feed  the  fire.  They  brought  back 
great  armfuls  of  it,  and  put  it  beside  the 
fireplace. 

Koolee  was  the  cook.  She  stayed  on  the 
beach  and  looked  after  the  babies  and  the 
dogs,  and  the  fire.  Everything  was  ready 
for  dinner  —  except  the  food ! 

Meanwhile  the  men  had  found  a  good 
place  where  there  were  big  stones  in  the 
river.  They  stood  on  these  stones  with  their 
spears  in  their  hands.  There  were  hun- 
dreds of  salmon  in  the  little  stream.  The 
salmon  were  going  up  to  the  little  lake  from 
which  the  river  flowed. 

169 


&^^=^^ 


When  the  fish  leaped  in  the  water,  the  men 
struck  at  them  with  their  fish-spears.  There 
were  so  many  fish,  and  the  men  were  so  skill- 
ful that  they  soon  had  plenty  for  dinner. 

They  strung  them  all  on  a  walrus-line 
170 


and  went  back  to  the  beach.  Koolee  popped 
as  many  as  she  could  into  her  pot  to  cook, 
but  the  men  were  so  hungry  they  ate  theirs 
raw,  and  the  twins  and  Koko  had  as  many 
fishes'  eyes  to  eat  as  they  wanted,  for  once 
in  their  Hves. 

When  everybody  had  eaten  as  much  as 
he  could  possibly  hold,  the  babies  were 
rolled  up  in  furs  in  the  sand  and  went  to 
sleep.  The  Angakok  lay  down  on  the  sand 
in  the  sunshine  with  his  hands  over  his 
stomach  and  was  soon  asleep,  too. 

The  men  sat  in  a  little  group  near  by, 
and  Menie  and  Koko  lay  on  their  stomachs 
beside  Kesshoo. 

The  women  had  gone  a  little  farther  up 
the  beach.  The  air  was  still,  except  for  the 
rippling  sound  of  the  water,  the  distant  chat- 
ter of  the  women,  the  snores  of  the  Anga- 
kok, and  the  buzzing  of  mosquitoes  ! 

For  quite  a  long  time  everybody  rested. 
Menie  and  Koko  did  n't  go  to  sleep.  They 
were  having  too  much  fun.  They  played 
with  shells  and  pebbles  and  watched  the 

171 


mosquitoes  buzzing  over  the  Angakok^s 
face.  There  were  a  great  many  mosquitoes, 
and  they  seemed  to  Hke  the  Angakok.  At 
last  one  settled  on  his  nose,  and  bit  and  bit. 
Menie  and  Koko  wanted  to  slap  it,  but,  of 
course,  they  didn't  dare.  They  just  had  to 
let  it  bite  1 

All  of  a  sudden  the  Angakok  woke  up 
and  slapped  it  himself  He  slapped  it  harder 
than  he  intended  to.  He  looked  very  much 
surprised  and  quite  offended  about  it.  He 
sat  up  and  looked  round  for  his  wives  —  as 
if  he  thought  perhaps  they  had  something 

172 


to  do  with  it.  But  they  were  at  the  other 
end  of  the  beach.  The  Angakok  yawned 
and  rubbed  his  nose,  which  was  a  good  deal 
swollen. 

Just  then  Kesshoo  spoke,  '*  I  think  we 
shall  look  a  long  time  before  we  find  a  bet- 
ter spot  than  this  to  camp,"  he  said.  "  Here 
are  plenty  of  salmon.  We  can  catch  all  we 
need  to  dry  for  winter  use,  right  here.  There 
must  be  deer  farther  up  the  fiord.  What 
do  you  say  to  setting  up  the  tents  right 
here?" 

When  Kesshoo  said  anything,  the  others 
were  pretty  sure  to  agree,  because  Kesshoo 
was  such  a  brave  and  skillful  man  that  they 
trusted  his  judgment. 

All  the  men  said,  *'Yes,  let  us  stay." 

Then  the  Angakok  said,  ''Yes,  my  chil- 
dren, let  us  stay !  While  you  thought  I  was 
asleep  here  on  the  sand  I  was  really  in  a 
trance.  I  thought  it  best  to  ask  my  Tornak 
about  this  spot,  and  whether  we  should  be 
threatened  here  by  any  hidden  danger.  My 
Tornak  says  to  stay!" 

173 


This  settled  the  matter. 

''Tell  the  women,"  said  Kesshoo.  Koko's 
father  went  over  to  the  place  where  the 
women  and  children  were. 

''Get  out  the  tent -poles,"  he  called  to 
them.   "  Here  's  where  we  stay." 


The  women  jumped  up  and  ran  to  the 
woman-boats.  They  got  out  the  long  nar- 
whal tusks,  and  the  skins,  and  set  them 
down  on  the  beach. 

"Come  with  me,"  Koolee  called  to  the 
twins.  She  gave  them  each  a  long  tent-pole 
to  carry.  She  herself  carried  the  longest 
pole  of  all,  and  a  pile  of  skins. 

Koolee  led  the  way  up  the  green  slope  to 
a  level  spot  overlooking  the  stream  and  the 
bay.  It  was  beside  some  high  rocks,  and 
there  were  smaller  stones  all  about. 

There  was  a  flat  stone  that  she  used  for 
the  sleeping-bench.  When  the  poles  were 
set  up  and  securely  fastened,  she  got  the 
tent-skins  and  covered  the  poles. 

174 


She  put  on  one  layer  of  skin  with  the  hair 
inside  and  over  that  another  covering  of  skin 
with  the  fur  side  out.  She  sewed  the  skins 
together  over  the  entrance  with  leather 
thongs  and  left  a  flap  for  a  door. 

Then  she  placed  stones  around  the  edge 
of  the  tent-covering  to  keep  the  wind  from 
blowing  it  away.  She  piled  the  bed-skins 
on  the  rock,  and  their  summer  house  was 
ready. 

The  twins  brought  the  musk-ox  hides, 
with  all  their  treasures  in  them,  and  the 

175 


cooking -pots  and  knives  and  household 
things  from  the  beach,  while  Koolee  made 
the  fireplace  in  the  tent. 

She  made  the  fireplace  by  driving  four 
sticks  into  the  ground  and  lashing  them 
together  to  make  a  framework. 

She  hung  the  cooking-kettle  by  straps 
from  the  four  corners.  Under  the  kettle  on 
a  flat  stone  she  placed  the  lamp.  Then  the 
stove  was.  ready. 

''  We  shall  cook  out  of  doors  most  of  the 
time,"  she  said  to  the  twins,  ''but  in  rainy 
weather  we  shall  need  the  lamp." 

It  was  only  a  little  while  before  there  was 
a  whole  new  village  ready  to  live  in,  with 
plenty  of  fish  and  good  fresh  water  right  at 
hand. 

VI 

Menie  and  Monnie  were  happy  in  their 
new  home.  They  climbed  about  on  the  rocks 
and  found  a  beautiful  cave  to  play  in.  They 
gathered  flowers  and  shells  and  colored 
stones  and  brought  them  to  their  mother. 

176 


Then  later  they  went  for  more  fish  with 
the  men,  and  Kesshoo  let  them  stand  on 
the  stones  and  try  to  spear  the  fish  just  the 
way  the  men  did. 

Menie  caught  one,  and  Koko  caught  one, 
but  Monnie  had  no  luck  at  all.  ''  Anyway, 
I  caught  a  codfish  once,"  Monnie  said,  to 
comfort  herself. 

In  two  hours  everything  was  as  settled 
about  the  camp  as  if  they  had  lived  there 
a  week,  and  every  one  was  hungry  again. 
Hungriness  and  sleepiness  came  just  as 
regularly  as  if  they  had  had  nights  and 
clocks  both,  to  measure  time  by. 

177 


When  the  food  was  ready,  Kesshoo  called, 
'*  Ujo,  ujo/'  which  meant  ''boiled  meat," 
and  everybody  came  running  to  the  beach. 

The  men  sat  in  one  circle,  the  women  and 
children  in  another.  Pots  of  boiled  fish  were 
set  in  the  middle  of  the  circles,  and  they  all 
dipped  in  with  their  fingers  and  took  what 
they  wanted. 

When  everybody  had  eateji,  the  children 
played  on  the  beach.  They  skipped  stones 
and  danced  and  played  ball,  and  their  moth- 
ers played  with  them. 

178 


The  men  had  their  fun,  too.  They  sat  in 
their  circle,  told  stories,  and  played  games 
which  were  n't  children's  games,  and  the 
Angakok  sang  a  song,  beating  time  on  a 
little  drum.  All  the  men  sang  the  chorus. 

By  and  by,  Koolee  saw  Monnie's  head 
nodding.  So  she  said  to  the  twins,  *'  Come, 
children,  let's  go  up  to  the  tent." 

She  took  their  hands  and  led  them  up  the 
slope. 

**  We're  not  sleepy,"  the  twins  declared. 

'*  I  am,"  said  Koolee,  ''and  I  want  you 
with  me." 

They  went  into  the  tent,  which  was  not 
so  light  as  it  was  out  of  doors  in  the  bright 
sunlight.  Then  they  undressed,  crawled  in 
among  the  deerskins,  and  were  soon  sound 
asleep  —  all  three  of  them.  After  a  while 
Kesshoo  came  up  from  the  beach  and  went 
to  sleep  too. 


X 

THE  SUMMER  DAY 


^•N  ^' 


ml. 


X 

THE  SUMMER  DAY 


The  summer  days  flew  by  —  only  one 
really  should  n't  say  days  at  all  —  but  sum- 
mer day.  For  three  whole  bright  months  it 
was  just  one  daylight  picnic  all  the  time  ! 

The  people  ate  when  they  were  hungry 
and  slept  when  they  were  sleepy.  The  men 
caught  hundreds  of  salmon,  and  the  women 
split  them  open  and  dried  them  on  the 
rocks  for  winter  use.  The  children  played 
all  day  long. 

The  men  hunted  deer  and  musk-ox  and 
bears  up  in  the  hills  and  brought  them 
back  to  camp.  They  hunted  game  both  by 
land  and  by  sea.  There  was  so  much  to 
eat  that  everybody  grew  fatter,  and  as  for 
the  Angakok,  he  got  so  very  fat  that  Koko 
said  to  Menie,  ''  I  don't   believe  we   can 

183 


ever  get  the  Angakok  home  in  the  woman- 
boat!  He  's  so  heavy  he  '11  sink  it !  I  think 
it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  tie  a  string  to 
him  and  tow  him  back  like  a  walrus  ! " 

** Yes,"  said  Menie.  "Maybe  he  would 
shrink  some  if  we  soaked  him  well.  Don't 
you  know  how  water  shrinks  the  walrus- 
hide  cords  that  we  tie  around  things  when 
we  want  them  to  hold  tight  together?  " 

It  was  lucky  for  Menie  and  Koko  that 
nobody  heard  them  say  that  about  the  An- 
gakok. It  would  have  been  thought  very 
disrespectful. 

184 


When  the  game  grew  scarce,  or  they 
got  tired  of  camping  in  one  spot  every- 
thing was  piled  into  their  boats  again,  and 
away  they  went  up  the  coast  until  they 
found  another  place  they  liked  better.  Then 
they  would  set  up  their  tents  again. 

Sometimes  they  came  to  other  camps 
and  had  a  good  time  meeting  new  people 
and  making  new  friends. 

At  last,  late  in  August,  the  sun  slipped 
down  below  the  edge  of  the  World  again. 
It  stayed  just  long  enough  to  fill  the  sky 
with  wonderful  red  and  gold  sunset  clouds, 
then  it  came  up  again.  The  next  night 
there  was  a  little  time  between  the  sunset 
sky  and  the  lovely  colors  of  the  sunrise. 

The  next  night  was  longer  still.  Each 
day  grew  colder  and  colder.  Still  the  peo- 
ple lingered  in  their  tents.  They  did  not 
hke  to  think  the  pleasant  summer  was  over, 
and  the  long  night  near. 

But  at  last  Kesshoo  said,  '*  I  think  it  is 
time  to  go  back  to  winter  quarters.  The 
nights  are  fast  growing  longer.  The  snow 

185 


may  be  upon  us  any  day  now.  I  don't 
know  of  a  better  place  to  settle  than  the 
village  where  we  spent  last  winter.  The 
igloos  are  all  built  there  ready  to  use  again. 
What  do  you  say  ?  Shall  we  go  back  there  ? ' ' 
**  Yes,  let  us  go  back,"  they  all  said. 

II 

The  very  next  day  they  started.  The 
boats  were  heavily  loaded  with  dried  fish, 
there  were  great  piles  of  new  skins  heaped 
in  the  woman-boats,  and  every  kyak  towed 
a  seal. 

For  days  they  traveled  along  the  coast, 
stopping  only  for  rest  and  food.  The  twins 
and  Koko  sat  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat 
with  the  dogs,  and  listened  to  the  regular 
dip  of  the  paddles,  to  the  cries  of  the  sea- 
birds  as  they  flew  away  toward  the  south, 
and  to  the  chatter  of  the  women.  These 
were  almost  the  only  sounds  they  heard,  for 
the  silence  of  the  Great  White  World  was 
all  about  them.  They  talked  together  in  low 
voices  and  planned  all  the  things  they  would 

i86 


do  when  the  long  night  was  really  upon 
them  once  more. 

^When  at  last  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
Big  Rock,  they  felt  as  if  they  had  reached 
home  after  a  very  long  journey. 

Koko  stood  up  in  the  boat  and  pointed 
to  it.  "See,"  he  cried,  **  there's  the  Big 
Rock  where  we  found  the  bear! " 

"Yes,"  Monnie  said,  "  and  where  we  slid 
downhill." 

"And  I  see  where  I  got  caught  on  the 
ice  raft,"  Menie  shouted. 

"  Sit  down,"  said  Koko's  mother.  "  You  '11 
tip  the  boat  and  spill  us  all  into  the  water." 

Koko  sat  down ;  the  boat  glided  along 
through  the  water,  nearer  and  nearer,  until 
at  last  they  came  round  the  Big  Rock,  and 
there,  just  as  if  they  had  not  been  away  at 
all,  lay  the  whole  village  of  five  igloos,  look- 
ing as  if  it  had  gone  to  sleep  in  the  sunshine. 

The  big  boats  waited  until  the  men  had 
all  paddled  to  the  shore  and  beached  their 
kyaks,  then  they  were  drawn  carefully  up 
on  to  the  sand,  and  every  one  got  out.  The 

187 


beach  at  once  became  a  very  busy  place. 
The  men  pulled  the  walruses  and  seals  out 
of  the  water  and  took  care  of  the  boats, 
while  the  women  set  up  the  tents,  cut  the 
meat  into  big  pieces  for  storage,  and  carried 
all  their  belongings  to  the  tents. 

Although  the  village  looked  just  the  same, 
other  things  looked  quite  different.  Nip  and 
Tup  were  big  dogs  by  this  time.  They  ran 
away  up  the  beach  with  Tooky  and  the 
other  dogs  the  moment  they  were  out  of 
the  boats.  They  did  not  stay  with  the  twins 
all  the  time  now,  as  they  used  to  do.  The 
twins  were  much  bigger,  too.  Koolee  looked 
at  them  as  they  helped  her  carry  the  tent- 
skins  up  from  the  beach,  and  said  to  them, 
<<  My  goodness,  I  must  make  my  needles 
fly !  winter  is  upon  us  and  your  clothes  are 
getting  too  small  for  you !  You  must  have 
new  things  right  away."  The  twins  thought 
this  was  a  very  good  idea.  They  liked  new 
clothes  as  well  as  any  one  in  the  world. 

Koolee  set  up  the  tent  beside  their  old 
igloo,  and  there  they  lived  while  the  men 

1 88 


of  the  village  went  out  every  day  in  their 
kyaks  for  seal  and  walrus,  or  back  into  the 
hills  after  other  game  to  store  away  for  food 
during  the  long  winter.  The  women  scraped 
and  cured  the  skins  and  cut  up  the  meat  and 
packed  it  away  as  fast  as  the  men  could 
kill  the  game  and  bring  it  home. 

Each  day  it  grew  colder,  and  each  night 
was  longer  than  the  last,  until  one  short 
September  day  there  came  a  great  snow- 
storm! It  snowed  all  day  long,  and  that 
night  the  wind  blew  so  hard  that  Koolee 
and  the  twins  nearly  froze  even  among  the 
fur  covers  of  their  bed,  and  when  morning 
came  they  found  themselves  nearly  buried 
under  a  great  drift. 

That  very  day  Koolee  put  the  stones  over 
the  roof  of  the  igloo  once  more,  and  the 
twins  helped  her  fill  in  the  chinks  with  moss 
and  earth,  and  cover  it  with  a  heavy  layer 
of  snow,  patted  down  with  the  snow-shovel, 
until  everything  was  snug  and  tight  again. 

Then  they  moved  in.  By  the  next  day  all 
the  igloos  in  the  village  were  in  use,  and 

189 


when  night  came  their  windows  shone  with 
the  Hght  of  the  lamps,  just  as  they  had  so 
many  months  before. 

Nip  and  Tup  slept  outside  with  Tooky 
now,  in  a  snow  house  which  Kesshoo  had 
built  for  them.  Menie  and  Monnie  missed 
them,  but  Koolee  said,  ''  You  are  getting 
so  big  now  you  must  begin  to  do  some- 
thing besides  play  with  puppies.  Monnie 
must  learn  to  sew,  and  Menie  must  help 
Father  with  feeding  the  dogs  and  looking 
after  their  harnesses,  and  driving  the  sledge. 

*'  Maybe  Father  will  teach  you  both  to 
carve  fine  things  out  of  ivory  this  winter! 
Monnie  will  soon  need  her  own  thimble 
and  needles.  They  must  be  made.  And  she 
can  help  me  clean  the  skins  and  suck  out 
the  blubber,  and  prepare  them  for  being 
made  into  clothes ! 

"  Dear  me !  what  a  lot  there  is  to  do  to 
keep  clothes  on  our  backs  and  food  in  our 
mouths !  The  Giants  are  always  waiting  be- 
fore the  igloo  and  we  must  work  very  hard 
to  keep  them  outside!" 

190 


She  did  not  mean  real  giants.  She  meant 
that  Hunger  and  Want  are  always  waiting 
to  seize  the  Eskimo  who  does  not  work  all 
the  time  to  supply  food  for  himself  and  his 
family.  She  meant  that  Menie  must  learn 
to  be  a  brave  strong  hunter,  afraid  of  nothing 
on  sea  or  land,  and  that  Monnie  must  learn 
to  do  a  woman's  work  well,  or  else  the  time 
would  come  when  they  would  be. without 
food  or  shelter  or  clothing,  and  the  fierce 
cold  would  soon  make  an  end  of  them. 

It  was  lucky  they  got  into  the  warm  igloo 
just  when  they  did,  for  the  winter  had  come 
to  stay.  The  bay  froze  over  far  out  from 
shore,  and  the  w^hite  snow  covered  the  ig- 
loos so  completely  that  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  windows,  and  for  people  moving 
about  out  of  doors,  no  one  could  have  told 
that  there  was  any  village  there. 

The  Last  Day  of  all  was  so  short  that 
Menie  and  Monnie  and  Koko  saw  the 
whole  of  it  from  the  top  of  the  Big  Rock ! 
They  had  gone  up  there  in  the  gray  twi- 
light that  comes  before  the  sunrise  to  build 

191 


a  snow  house  to  play  in.  They  had  been 
there  only  a  little  while  when  the  sky  grew 
all  rosy  just  over  the  Edge  of  the  World. 
The  color  grew  stronger  and  stronger  until 
the  little  stars  were  all  drowned  in  it  and 
then  up  came  the  great  round  red  face  of 
the  sun  itself!  The  children  watched  it  as 
it  peered  over  the  horizon,  threw  long  blue 
shadows  behind  them  across  the  snow,  and 
then  sank  slowly,  slowly  down  again,  leav- 
ing only  the  flaming  colors  in  the  sky  to 
mark  the  place  where  it  had  been.  They 
waved  their  hands  as  it  slipped  out  of  sight. 
**  Good-bye,  old  Sun,"  they  shouted,  ''and 
good-bye.  Shadow,  too !  We  shall  be  glad  to 
see  you  both  when  you  come  back  again." 

Then,  because  the  wind  blew  very  cold 
and  they  could  see  a  snow  cloud  coming 
toward  them  from  the  Great  White  World 
where  the  Giants  lived,  the  children  ran 
together  down  the  snowy  slope  toward  the 
bright  windows  of  their  homes. 

THE    END 


SUGGESTIONS   TO   TEACHERS 

To  arouse  the  children's  interest  and  thus  to  make  the 
reading  of  this  story  most  valuable  as  a  school  exercise,  it 
is  suggested  that  at  the  outset  the  children  be  allowed  to 
look  at  the  pictures  in  the  book  in  order  to  get  acquainted 
with  **Menie"  and  "Monnie"  and  with  the  scenes  illus- 
trating their  home  life  and  surroundings. 

During  the  reading,  point  out  the  North  Pole,  Green- 
land, etc.,  on  a  map  of  the  world  or  on  a  globe,  and  tell 
the  children  something  about  the  many  years  of  effort 
before  Peary  succeeded  in  reaching  his  goal ;  also  about 
the  work  of  subsequent  explorers  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
and  around  the  South  Pole  as  well.  Thus  this  supplement- 
ary reading  material  may  be  connected  with  the  work  in 
geography. 

The  text  is  so  simply  written  that  the  second  grade 
child  can  read  it  without  much  or  any  preparation.  It 
may  be  well  to  have  the  children  read  it  first  in  a  study 
period  in  order  to  work  out  the  pronunciation  of  the  more 
difficult  words.  But  many  classes  will  be  able  to  read  it 
at  sight,  without  the  preparatory  study.  The  possibilities 
in  the  story  for  dramatization  and  for  language  and  con- 
structive work  will  be  immediately  apparent. 

In  connection  with  the  reading  of  the  book,  teachers 
should  tell  to  the  children  stories  describing;  Eskimo  life, 
and  the  experiences  of  explorers  and  pioneers  in  the  North. 
Grenfell's  Adrift  on  an  Ice-Pan  is  suitable,  for  example. 
Holbrook's  Northland  Heroes  and  Schultz's  Sinopah,  the 


Indian  Boy^  while  not  belonging  to  the  land  of  the  Eski- 
mos, contain  stories  of  allied  interest.  Let  the  children 
bring  to  class  pictures  of  scenes  in  the  North,  clipped 
from  magazines  and  newspapers. 

The  unique  illustrations  in  The  Eskimo  Twins  should 
be  much  used,  both  in  the  reading  of  the  story  and  in 
other  ways.  Children  will  enjoy  sketching  some  of  them ; 
their  simple  treatment  makes  them  especially  useful  for 
this  purpose. 

The  book  is  printed  on  paper  which  will  take  water- 
color  well,  and  where  the  books  are  individually  owned 
some  of  the  sketches  could  be  used  for  coloring  in  flat 
washes.  They  also  afford  suggestions  for  action  sketch- 
ing by  the  children. 

An  excellent  oral  language  exercise  would  be  for  the 
children,  after  they  have  read  the  story,  to  take  turns 
telling  the  story  from  the  illustrations ;  and  a  good  com- 
position exercise  would  be  for  each  child  to  select  the  il- 
lustration that  he  would  like  to  write  upon,  make  a  sketch 
of  it,  and  write  the  story  in  his  own  words. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  ways  that  will  oc- 
cur to  resourceful  teachers  for  making  the  book  a  valu- 
able as  well  as  an  enjoyable  exercise  in  reading. 


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